General Question for the Week of February 27, 2017

Question:

Does Medicare reimburse telehealth services?

Answer:

Medicare policy covers and pays for telehealth services when beneficiaries are located in specific geographic areas. Within those geographic areas, beneficiaries must be located in one of the healthcare settings that are specified in federal law as eligible originating sites. The service must be on the list of approved Medicare telehealth services. Medicare pays a facility fee to the originating site and provides separate payment to the distant site practitioner for the service.

Additional information regarding Medicare telehealth services is available in the Medicare Benefit Policy Manual (Pub 100-02), chapter 15, section 270 and the Medicare Claims Processing Manual (Pub 100-04), chapter 12, section 190. For access to the manuals, go to https://www.cms.gov/Regulations-and-Guidance/Guidance/Manuals/Internet-Only-Manuals-IOMs.html.