In response to the COVID-19 pandemic the Centers for Medicare and Medicare (CMS) have updated their policy on provision and payments for patient visits conducted via telehealth.

Prior to the crisis, most payers only paid for certain telehealth patient encounters and often required modifiers and lowered reimbursement rates. However, in March 2020, CMS fully allowed all patient encounters conducted via telehealth to be coded with modifiers and at 100% reimbursement levels. These policies are meant to encourage all encounters that can be done in non-face-to-face manner to reduce direct interaction between physicians, patients, patient families, and staff.

Several national private payers have also similarly allowed telehealth visits without restrictions.

Click here to see CMS update on telehealth policies.

Click here for CMS FAQ on telehealth.

Click here for AMA resource page on telehealth.

Click here to see Anthem updates on telehealth policies.

Click here to see Cigna updates on telehealth policies.

Click here to see United Healthcare updates on telehealth policies.

Click here to see Medicaid update on telehealth policies.