Telehealth

During the week of June 15, 2020, the OOA sent letters to OHCA, BCBS, UnitedHealthcare, Bright Health, Community Care, Medica, and Cigna encouraging these insurers to maintain the expansion of telehealth coverage that began due to COVID-19. 

We specifically requested the following: 

  • Patient Location: Telehealth services should be covered for patients in any geographic location and at any site, including the patient’s home.
  • Payment: Providers should receive the amount of Physician Fee Schedule payment as if the services had been provided in-person.
  • Expansion of Telehealth Services: CMS should expand the list of covered telehealth services to include services that were added during the pandemic.
  • Relationship with Patient: Allow telehealth services to be provided to new and established patients.
  • Telephone evaluation and management (E/M) codes (99441-99443): Maintain the increased payment rates for these codes to equal established in-person codes (99212-99214) to ensure that patients without advanced video-sharing capabilities are able to access care.

To read a copy of the letter we sent to each insurer, please click here

 
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