Posts Tagged ‘telehealth’
Feds Expand Access to Telemedicine: What Does it Mean to Your Practice?
The Office of Inspector General announced today (March 17, 2020) that in response to the outbreak of COVID-19, physicians and other practitioners will not be subject to administrative sanctions for reducing or waiving any cost-sharing obligations that federal healthcare beneficiaries may owe for telemedicine services. Copayments/Deductibles Under normal circumstances, by waving or reducing cost-sharing amounts…
Read MoreNew Telehealth Law Takes Effect in Florida
On June 25, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed into law HB 23, which sets up guidelines for telehealth services in Florida. The legislation took effect July 1. Among other things, the law creates new practice standards for how telehealth can be used and by whom, registration of out-of-state telehealth providers, where telehealth services can be…
Read MoreVA Physicians to Start Practicing Across State Lines
Starting June 11, VA healthcare providers will be allowed to deliver care via telemedicine across state lines. As we wrote about last October, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs had issued a proposal that would allow for the provision of telemedicine services, regardless of where providers are licensed to practice. On May 11, the VA…
Read MoreOIG Report Finds Improper Billing for Telemedicine Services
As the push to increase the use of telemedicine grows, so too do concerns over questionable billing practices. In a recently released report, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (OIG) found that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) paid practitioners for services that did not meet Medicare…
Read MoreVA Proposal Would Expand Access to Care Via Telemedicine
Challenged by limited healthcare resources, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has issued a proposal that would allow VA healthcare providers to serve patients across state lines via telehealth, regardless of where they are licensed to practice. For fiscal year 2016, VA healthcare providers had 2.17 million telehealth episodes serving more than 700,00 veterans, 45…
Read MoreIs Your Telemedicine Company HIPAA Compliant?
UPDATE: According to a news release, the lawsuit filed against MDLive, Inc. was voluntarily dropped by the law firm that originally filed it. MDLive has since published a fact sheet responding to the allegations. A lawsuit seeking class action status recently filed against Telehealth provider MDLive, Inc. underscores the need for all healthcare companies using…
Read MoreFeds weigh in on competitive benefits of telemedicine
As telemedicine continues to grow in use and popularity, federal agencies are increasingly being asked to consider how it will affect competition in the healthcare arena. Recently, the Department of Justice offered its backing of a telemedicine bill winding its way through Michigan. Although the DOJ’s statement, in support of SB 753, was issued in…
Read MoreTelemedicine gaining acceptance among payors
Although not entirely embraced by insurers, telemedicine is slowly becoming a more acceptable means of providing care. Even the federal government is starting to recognize telemedicine’s benefits. Earlier this month, The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) proposed increasing telehealth coverage by adding new CPT codes for services beginning January 1, 2017 as part…
Read MoreLegal issues relating to telemedicine expected to increase
While the days of the Marcus Welby house call have, for the most part, been relegated to the history books, technology has spawned another kind of house call – telemedicine. Although the use of electronic communications between doctor and patient has been gaining ground in recent years, many barriers to treatment via telemedicine continue to…
Read MoreFlorida lawmakers introduce telemedicine legislation
Florida could see legislation later this year that would create statewide guidelines on the use of telemedicine. A bipartisan bill has been filed in Tallahassee that, if signed into law, would more clearly define what telehealth is, who is considered a telehealth provider and outlines what the standard of care is for those providers. HB…
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