Telehealth Provisions to Expand Access to Care

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued a new proposal on July 12, 2018, on how to pay Medicare clinicians. This new proposed fee schedule would allow clinicians to be paid for telehealth services, implementing key provisions from U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz’s (D-Hawai‘i) CONNECT for Health Act.

“I’m pleased that Medicare is catching up to the future of health care by implementing the key telehealth provisions passed in last year’s budget deal and expanding patients’ access to virtual care visits,” said Sen. Schatz. “By moving past outdated red tape to embrace new technology, Medicare will help more people stay healthy, lower costs,and make the healthcare system more convenient for both patients and clinicians.”

Among other changes, the new proposal would allow clinicians to be paid for virtual care visits and for examining photos and videos submitted by patients online. The proposal also covers payments for telestroke and telehealth services for home dialysis.