CMS: Hospitals Can Continue to Bill for Remote Outpatient Therapies

the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) stated that hospitals could continue to bill for various outpatient therapies delivered via remote care technologies in patients' homes through the end of calendar year (CY) 2023.CMS states that until the end of the year, hospitals can bill for outpatient physical therapy (PT), occupational therapy (OT), speech-language pathology (SLP) services, Diabetes Self-Management Training (DSMT), or Medical Nutrition Therapy (MNT) provided at home to beneficiaries through telecommunication technology by hospital-employed staff. "To allow these services to continue to be furnished to patients in their home through telecommunication technology through the end of CY 2023, we are exercising enforcement discretion in reviewing the telehealth practitioner status of the clinical staff personally providing any part of a remotely furnished DSMT service, so long as the practitioner is otherwise qualified to provide the service," CMS stated."This consideration would be the case even if the patient did not have an in-person or telehealth-eligible initiating service."the Department for Health and Human Services (HHS) released a factsheet detailing the changes to telehealth-related regulations following May 11. These include the HHS Office for Civil Rights reenforcing penalties for HIPAA noncompliance against providers using remote monitoring technology and the Drug Enforcement Agency ending the flexibility allowing providers to prescribe controlled substances, like Adderall and Oxycodone, without a prior in-person medical examination in November 2023.