Telehealth and COVID-19: Patient care, provider reimbursement and revenue health during a pandemic

By Stacey LaCotti, Customer Experience Strategist, Alpha II 
and Crystal Ewing, Director, Product Management — Revenue Cycle, eSolutions 

April 30, 2020, marked widely anticipated changes for providers of all types by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), which announced a massive relaxation in previously held telehealth regulations in response to the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (PHE).

This historic policy modification by CMS recognizes telehealth and virtual care as important tools for providers who must offer necessary patient care while also keeping staff safe during this rapidly evolving pandemic. These temporary changes will apply immediately across the entire U.S. healthcare system for the duration of the emergency declaration, according to CMS.

While this is good news for providers, these changes also bring about a flurry of new guidance and a great deal of information you’ll need to keep top of mind in order to make sure your organization is operating according to these new requirements. We break things down in this post.