Earlier this year, the Federal Office of Management and Budget (OMB) announced changes in designations for Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs). MSAs are geographic entities OMB delineates for use by Federal statistical agencies in collecting, tabulating, and publishing Federal statistics. These MSA changes were announced on February 28, 2013. According to the Centers for Medicare & …
Telehealth technology continues to advance by leaps and bounds, and according to current data, more and more Americans are taking advantage of it every year. Yet as a new report makes clear, in many states, Medicaid statutes and regulations have yet to catch up to technology. As previously reported by iHealth Beat, the study, from …
Rep. Mike Thompson (D-CA) has been a longtime advocate for the increased usage of telemedicine, and his efforts continued into the end of the 112th Congress. On December 30, Thompson, as reported by PhysBizTech, introduced legislation that would incentivize a stronger federal commitment to telemedicine. The Telehealth Promotion Act of 2012 (H.R. 6719, 112th Congress) …
See Updated Information Below The Robert J. Waters Center for Telehealth and e-Health Law (CTeL) routinely receives questions from telehealth providers on how to accurately determine whether their telehealth originating site (patient location) meets the legal definition of “rural” under the statutes and regulations for telehealth reimbursement through the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. …
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released a publication entitled Expansion of Medicare Telehealth Services for Calendar Year (CY) 2013 which outlines the newly-approved, telemedicine reimbursement codes for Calendar Year 2013. These changes were included as part of the Calendar Year (CY) 2013 physician fee schedule rulemaking process. As a part of this …
The Robert J. Waters Center for Telehealth and e-Health Law (CTeL) can now tell the real story about how much the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has reimbursed for telehealth encounters. When the original telehealth CMS reimbursement legislation was passed by Congress, the budget analysts at the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), Congress’s arbitrator …
It used to be that El Paso, Texas, burn patients dependent on Medicaid coverage had to travel six hours from home to receive specialized dermatological care, as the closest facility where dermatologists accepted Medicaid was in distant Lubbock. Now, according to Debbie Voyles, director for telemedicine at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, thanks to …
Michigan Governor Rick Snyder recently signed into law legislation that places Michigan as the 15th state to expand telehealth reimbursement by prohibiting face-to-face contact in order to provide reimbursement. The statement issued by the Governor’s office said, “Telemedicine uses telecommunications technology such as computer, Internet and telephone to connect physicians and patients, providing the best …
According to CapeGazette.com, starting July 1, the Delaware Medical Assistance Program will reimburse for telemedicine-delivered services provided to Delaware Medicaid clients in order to improve access to behavioral health services and general healthcare services, including medical subspecialties not widely available in the state. Delaware’s Division of Medicaid & Medical Assistance, which administers Medicaid, will reimburse …
On June 5th, the Michigan State Senate passed legislation to specify that health insurers could not require face-to-face contact between a health care professional and a patient for services appropriately provided through telemedicine in order to be reimbursed through the policy. The Senate action followed earlier action taken by the Michigan House. “Patients in rural …
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