Resources & Reports

The Center for Connected Health Policy’s (CCHP) updated billing guide for 2022, Billing for Telehealth Encounters: An Introductory Guide on Medicare Fee-For-Service is now available!! With the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE) tracking telehealth policy has become even more complex and varied, therefore the billing guide seeks to break down permanent post-PHE policies versus temporary PHE policy exceptions, as well as new legislative and administrative requirements relevant to telehealth billing. Many new requirements will only kick in post-PHE.

On March 15^th President Biden signed the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2022.  This bill will extend federal telehealth flexibilities for 151 days post-public health emergency (PHE), including PHE location, provider, and audio-only expansions, and includes new report requirements.  A delay to the new in-person telemental health visit requirement in Medicare was also included for the same period of time.

As states continue to grapple with post-public health emergency (PHE) telehealth policies, California’s Medicaid agency, the Department of Health Care Services (DHCS), recently released their permanent proposal document. The majority of the telehealth expansions made during COVID appear to remain, including those around audio-only and federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) and rural health centers (RHC). The issue of payment parity remains unclear, however, as the budget trailer bill language implementing the proposal only explicitly speaks to parity for synchronous modalities and other exceptions.