Month: April 2020

Found this today and thought it might be helpful to someone

From MGMA Community:

Subject: Telehealth Resources

Hi everyone, we use Bluestream health for our interpretation services. In light of the current situation around COVID-19 they have released a free, HIPAA compliant telehealth portal for anyone to use, no cost or contracts. I am not trying to market anything but sharing resources. I shared this with our local community and they recommended I share it here in case anyone needs it.
The link is here www.bluestreamhealth.com/rapid-response/…

Sorry if I violated any rules, I am not affiliated with this company at all just sharing good info.

Good luck to everyone!

——————————
Daman Kaur
Frederick Foot and Ankle
Frederick MD
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Attached is the PCP E-Newsletter for the month of April. Topics this month include:

• Patient Assistance Programs
• World Immunization Week
• 2020 Formulary QRG
• CAHPS Corner
• Valuable Insights: News You Can Use

Do you require your patients to wear masks?  See how another office is approaching these questions. View Link.

To view the memo.

First posted April 13,2020 and pinned as top post. Removed pin April 24th.

If you see a payment appear in the checking account from HHS and do not know why. This is why….

Immediate infusion of $30 billion into healthcare system

Recognizing the importance of delivering funds in a fast and transparent manner, $30 billion is being distributed immediately – with payments arriving via direct deposit beginning April 10, 2020 – to eligible providers throughout the American healthcare system. These are payments, not loans, to healthcare providers, and will not need to be repaid.

• Providers will be paid via Automated Clearing House account information on file with UHG or the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).
  • The automatic payments will come to providers via Optum Bank with “HHSPAYMENT” as the payment description.
  • Providers who normally receive a paper check for reimbursement from CMS, will receive a paper check in the mail for this payment as well, within the next few weeks.
• Within 30 days of receiving the payment, providers must sign an attestation confirming receipt of the funds and agreeing to the terms and conditions of payment. The portal for signing the attestation will be open the week of April 13, 2020, and will be linked on this page.
• HHS’ payment of this initial tranche of funds is conditioned on the healthcare provider’s acceptance of the Terms and Conditions – PDF, which acceptance must occur within 30 days of receipt of payment. Not returning the payment within 30 days of receipt will be viewed as acceptance of the Terms and Conditions. If a provider receives payment and does not wish to comply with these Terms and Conditions, the provider must do the following: contact HHS within 30 days of receipt of payment and then remit the full payment to HHS as instructed.  Appropriate contact information will be provided soon.

Is this different than the CMS Accelerated and Advance Payment Program?

Yes. The CMS Accelerated and Advance Payment Program has delivered billions of dollars to healthcare providers to help ensure providers and suppliers have the resources needed to combat the pandemic. The CMS accelerated and advance payments are a loan that providers must pay back. Read more information from CMS.

To understand all of what this means and what you need to do, you must check out the CMS website.

https://www.hhs.gov/provider-relief/index.html

Today the Governor has lifted a few more regulations around telehealth. Here is the link- https://gov.texas.gov/news/post/governor-abbott-waives-regulations-expands-telehealth-options

This is what is in the link –

Governor Greg Abbott has temporarily waived a series of regulations to lift certain telehealth restrictions and expand telehealth options as Texas responds to COVID-19. These waivers will allow a smart phone or any audio-visual, real-time, or two-way interactive communication system to qualify as a telecommunications technology that can be used to provide certain telehealth services. These waivers apply to speech-language pathologists and audiologists, behavior analysts, hearing instrument fitters and dispensers, and dyslexia therapists and practitioners.

Part B News shared an article titled ” Telehealth expands: Find the full list of extra codes for COVID-19 crisis”. This article is dated April 6th. Thought it might be useful. Find it in the InK files.

The link below will take you to a spreadsheet I found on MGMA. It covers the nation so more information than you may need. However, POET is in hopes of creating a pared down version using this format. Meanwhile hopefully this will be helpful to all of you until we have ours completed.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1_Y1jSR1LfAxto1C_X6ZOeyPQe6RWHU8cgOuVNxFRIXA/edit#gid=0

Here is a link to a good resource for telemedicine/telehealth.

http://www.karenzupko.com/KZA-telehealth-solution-center

Karen Zupko has been in the business for as long as I can remember. The information is concise and appears up to date – as much as anyone can keep up with all the changes.

Effective April 1, 2020, Cigna Medicare is accepting the Arcadia 360s via telehealth until further notice.

Attached is the latest announcement regarding this change. Also attached is the Arcadia 360 User Guide for performing the 360s via telehealth.

Key items to note are:

•  Telehealth 360s must be both visual and audio.
• In the Location field of the 360, the provider will need to select “Other”. In “Other Location” they should type “telehealth”.
• Vitals and physical exam are not required to pass the audit check for a telehealth visit.
• Telehealth 360s are reimbursing at the same rate – $150 plus FFS reimbursement on the corresponding claim.
•  CMS has not yet approved telehealth for risk adjustment. CareAllies and Cigna have been working with CMS to see if there may be some opportunity for clemency during this pandemic.