- 2,120
With Red Tape Lifted, Dr. Zoom Will See You Now
The pandemic pushed Medicare to make telemedicine more financially attractive. Now doctors, patients and regulators will see if they want to stick with it.
But in March, citing the need for flexibility in face of the coronavirus pandemic, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services removed those barriers. It also added scores of new telehealth services it would cover, including emergency-room visits, initial and discharge visits at nursing homes and remote monitoring for chronic conditions. And it agreed to pay the same rates as for in-person care.
It maintained a lower rate, at first, for audio-only phone visits. Professional associations objected, arguing that this policy reinforced the so-called digital divide, depriving older adults of remote care if they lacked computers, smartphones or broadband. “People who rely on a landline cannot do video visits,” Dr. McLean said.
On April 30, that obstacle fell, too, as Medicare agreed to reimburse equally for visits in person, by video or by phone.
And another major hurdle was removed by the Department of Health and Human Services, which, in March, temporarily relaxed enforcement of HIPAA, the federal patient privacy law. It will waive penalties when providers use everyday platforms like FaceTime or Skype, which aren’t HIPAA-compliant.
The pandemic pushed Medicare to make telemedicine more financially attractive. Now doctors, patients and regulators will see if they want to stick with it.
But in March, citing the need for flexibility in face of the coronavirus pandemic, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services removed those barriers. It also added scores of new telehealth services it would cover, including emergency-room visits, initial and discharge visits at nursing homes and remote monitoring for chronic conditions. And it agreed to pay the same rates as for in-person care.
It maintained a lower rate, at first, for audio-only phone visits. Professional associations objected, arguing that this policy reinforced the so-called digital divide, depriving older adults of remote care if they lacked computers, smartphones or broadband. “People who rely on a landline cannot do video visits,” Dr. McLean said.
On April 30, that obstacle fell, too, as Medicare agreed to reimburse equally for visits in person, by video or by phone.
And another major hurdle was removed by the Department of Health and Human Services, which, in March, temporarily relaxed enforcement of HIPAA, the federal patient privacy law. It will waive penalties when providers use everyday platforms like FaceTime or Skype, which aren’t HIPAA-compliant.
