With all the questions surrounding the Coronavirus and how you can keep yourself and your family safe, the Trump administration has announced expanded telehealth services for Medicare. These services will be of great benefit to our more at-risk populations by allowing them safer access to important health services. the administration is also rolling back some HIPAA restrictions to allow easier access to these services. Read on to learn more about how this will help you and how you can take advantage of these important telehealth services.
“Telehealth is the distribution of health-related services and information via electronic information and telecommunication technologies. It allows long-distance patient and clinician contact, care, advice, reminders, education, intervention, monitoring, and remote admissions.”
Beginning on March 6, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) expanded its Medicare telehealth coverage. Medicare will pay doctors and hospitals for a wide range of telehealth services on a temporary basis. This new program will fund office and hospital telehealth visits. Nurse practitioners, clinical psychologists, and social workers will also be covered under the program. Telehealth visits will be reimbursed for the same amount as in-person visits.
HHS will relax some HIPAA restrictions to allow medical professionals to offer these telehealth services from their own homes and through the use of their personal cell phones. Professionals will also be able to enforce co-pays at their own discretion so that there will be no barriers to care. All of these measures will allow more at-risk populations to receive quality and necessary care during these uncertain times.
Along with the expanded telehealth services in response to COVID-19, the HHS’ Office for Civil Rights will allow telehealth services to be used for visits for any diagnostic or treatment purpose, even if it is unrelated to COVID-19. Medical providers are encouraged to alert telehealth patients to the privacy risks associated with phone and online visits and to enable privacy mode and other services to protect their clients’ information.
By expanding telehealth services, officials are hoping to slow the spread of the virus. Adults over the age of 60 are more vulnerable to the virus. These measures will not only protect them from exposure, but also should help slow the spread among younger populations as they begin to take advantage of telehealth services.
This expansion came at a time when Medicare telehealth services were only available to rural Medicare enrollees. They could only receive these services at a clinic, hospital, or other medical facility.
If you have any questions about your Medicare coverage, you can always call your local healthcare provider or a financial professional that you trust. In times of uncertainty, it is comforting to know that our President and his administration is taking the necessary steps to protect our vulnerable populations and slow the spread of the Coronavirus. For up-to-date information about the Coronavirus pandemic, visit https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html.
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