The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services is once again looking for ways to extend the coverage of telemedicine services beyond the Covid-19 pandemic.In particular, the agency is seeking to expand the coverage of medical insurance for behavioral health access telemedicine, as its final 2022 doctor’s fee schedule.
CMS deleted 2,400 page final rule Tuesday afternoon. Here are a few highlights:
Broader coverage of behavioral health telemedicine visits
CMS will remove geographic restrictions on telemedicine access to mental health services. Medical insurance will cover patients’ home visits, including diagnosis, assessment or treatment of mental health conditions.
Medicare will also cover audio-only access to certain services, including counseling, treatment, and treatment of substance use disorders provided through opioid treatment programs. It will also cover mental health visits provided by rural health clinics and federally qualified health centers.
CMS stated in a press release that these changes are aimed at making mental health services accessible to people in areas and rural communities with weak broadband infrastructure.
Changes in the clinical labor rate
CMS reduced the conversion factor used to calculate the fee-for-service calculation from last year’s $34.89 to $33.59. The 3.75% provisional increase in Congress at the end of 2020 will expire at the end of the year.
CMS has also made some changes to clinical labor pricing, which will take effect within the next four years. Salaries for primary health care majors such as family medicine, geriatrics, and internal medicine are expected to increase. On the other hand, the salaries of radiation oncology and interventional radiology specialists will fall. This will be the first time CMS has updated its salary data in 20 years.
More vaccine costs
Specifically, cooperative medical care will pay higher costs for vaccines for common diseases such as influenza, pneumonia, and hepatitis B. It increased the Medicare Part B payment used to administer these vaccines from US$17 to US$30, almost doubling. However, for the Covid-19 vaccine, the payment will remain unchanged at US$40 per dose.
Pay PA directly
According to Part B, Medicare will be able to pay directly to the doctor’s assistant. Currently, PA can only be billed through employers or independent contractors, but starting in January, they will be able to bill Medicare directly.
Photo: doyata, Getty Images
