Ferrante Comments on CMS Proposal to Add Telehealth Coverage to Medicare Physician Fee Schedule

Senior Counsel Thomas (T.J.) Ferrante was quoted in a Report on Medicare Compliance article, “Medical Center Provides Telehealth Follow-Up Visits With Eye on Future Medicare Coverage,” about a decision by the CMS to add telehealth coverage to the proposed 2019 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS) regulation, including patient virtual check-ins with physicians.

Ferrante said that means that in some cases patients could be at home instead of at an “originating site” (e.g., hospital, physician practice), which is normally required to trigger Medicare payment for telehealth services. “It’s the most open I have seen CMS be to telemedicine,” he said. “Now that Medicare is starting to reimburse it, compliance and legal counsel will have to watch these programs.”