virtual care Archives - OF DIGITAL INTEREST

CMS Addresses Virtual Care Expansion in CY 2022 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Proposal

by Amanda Enyeart, Marshall E. Jackson, Jr., Lisa Mazur and Dale C. Van Demark | Jul 27, 2021 | Telehealth

On July 23, 2021, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published its annual proposed changes to the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS), which include several key telehealth and other virtual care-related proposals. The proposals address long-standing restrictions that have historically limited the use of telehealth and virtual care, including geographic and originating site restrictions, and limitations on audio-only care, as well as coverage extensions for some services added during the COVID-19 public health emergency.

These proposals include:

The implementation of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (CAA) in-person visit requirement for mental health services that either do not meet Medicare’s typical geographic restrictions or occur when the originating site is the patient’s home, regardless of geography
The ability for certain mental health services to be delivered via audio-only communications when patients are located in their homes (however, in these cases, the provider would also be required to comply with the in-person visit requirement described above)
The extension of coverage of the services temporarily added to the Medicare telehealth services list (Category 3 services) through the end of CY 2023 to allow more time for evaluation, and the rejection of proposed new, permanent Medicare telehealth services
The permanent adoption of HCPCS Code G2252 for extended virtual check-ins, which was established on an interim basis in the CY 2021 MPFS.

Read the full article here.

Telehealth and Prescribing: What’s Permissible in Your State?

by McDermott Will & Emery | Mar 2, 2021 | Telehealth

Telehealth’s state-by-state regulatory patchwork means that healthcare providers must navigate a variety of regulations that govern which types of care can be provided by virtual means, and even what modalities can be used in different care settings.

Our new interactive map explores the standards and requirements that physicians and nurse practitioners must follow when prescribing non-controlled substances or ordering tests via a telemedicine encounter in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Key issues addressed in the survey include:

In what states are asynchronous solutions permitted?
What are state rules governing prescriptions when a physician-patient relationship does not exist prior to the telehealth encounter?
What are state rules on prescribing via audio-visual encounters or audio-only encounters?
Under what state regulations can a questionnaire be sufficient to create a physician-patient or advance practice registered nurse-patient relationship?

Click here to access the map and download the full report.

Dash to Digital Health? How the Regulatory Sprint to Coordinated Care Could Expand Access to Care

by Dale C. Van Demark and Lisa Mazur | Jul 22, 2019 | Telehealth

Certain long-standing laws, such as the civil monetary penalty provision prohibiting patient inducements, have hampered providers’ ability to fully leverage remote patient monitoring and other telehealth tools. Many stakeholders are hoping that developments in the Regulatory Sprint to Coordinated Care will begin the rulemaking process to enable greater access to digital health and virtual care products.

The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) launched the Regulatory Sprint to Coordinated Care in 2018 with the goal of reducing regulatory burden and incentivizing coordinated care. As part of this initiative, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and other agencies are scrutinizing a variety of long-standing regulatory requirements and prohibitions to determine whether they unnecessarily hinder the innovative arrangements policy-makers are otherwise hoping to see develop. While regulations such as the civil monetary penalty prohibition on patient inducements have significant benefits for reducing fraud and abuse, they can also make it difficult for health systems to deploy digital tools that help patients track, monitor and share health data with their providers.

For example, Medicare reimbursement of digital health and virtual care products, while expanded in 2018, is still limited. This means that if a provider wants to use un-reimbursed technology, the provider must either charge the patient separately for the non-reimbursable service or provide the service to the patient for free. The former option is tricky—it can result in surprise charges for patients, and digital health services can be part of a care service plan and difficult to break out separately as a standalone billable service. As a result, many providers would prefer to offer virtual care services to the patient for free, but doing so immediately implicates the civil monetary penalties prohibition. Substantial time, effort and cost is required to evaluate the facts and circumstances, understand the available regulatory guidance and case law, and determine whether the provision of the service—which results in no increase in revenue—could result in governmental scrutiny

This is just one example of how certain long-standing regulations have become a barrier to broad adoption of digital health. If HHS chooses to update these regulations or issue additional guidance, the Regulatory Sprint to Coordinated Care could bring digital health technologies such as telehealth and virtual care products off the sidelines and into the race.

Digital Health Drives Forward – A Roadmap of Regulations

by McDermott Will & Emery | Feb 14, 2019 | Telehealth

New digital health regulations arose at the federal and state level in 2018, bolstering the existing legal framework to further support and encourage digital health adoption in the context of care coordination and the move to value-based payment. McDermott’s 2018 Digital Health Year in Review: Focus on Care Coordination and Reimbursement report – the second in a four-part series – highlighted these developments within the digital health landscape. These efforts brought changes to coverage of telehealth and other virtual care services, as well as information gathering for regulatory reform, and can help bridge the gap between research, funding and implementation as regulations build a framework within which companies can deploy their products, receive reimbursement and demonstrate value to patients. Here we outline digital health developments from the second half of 2018 and how they can help drive digital health forward in 2019. For a closer look at key care coordination and reimbursement developments that shaped digital health in 2018, along with planning considerations and predictions for the digital health frontier in the year ahead, download our full report.

To view the first report in the series, 2018 Digital Health Year in Review: Focus on Data, click here.