Resources & Reports

Telehealth billing is an increasingly complicated policy area given that billing rules vary widely across different payers, including Medicare, Medicaid, and commercial insurance. This newsletter seeks to provide information on provider and payer coding considerations that dictate current billing practice. We will also address related research and a few areas of confusion when it comes to billing challenges for telehealth services. Note that while the Medicare telehealth waivers, currently set to expire on March 31, 2025, are not the primary focus of this newsletter, they are briefly addressed at the end of this write-up.

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) have announced a delay in the effective date for the recently issued final rules regarding the telemedicine prescribing of buprenorphine and telemedicine for Veterans Affairs Patients (which are further detailed below). Originally scheduled to become effective February 18, the rules will now take effect on March 21, 2025. This decision aligns with the White House memorandum issued on January 20, which called for “A Regulatory Freeze Pending Review” to allow agencies further review of any fact, law, and policy considerations prior to proposing, issuing, or finalizing any regulatory activities. In particular, the DEA/HHS announcement cites the third paragraph of the Freeze Memo, which ordered agencies to consider postponing the effective dates for any recently published rules that have yet to take effect.

Cross-state practice issues continue to be some of the most complex policy areas related to the use of telehealth. Since telehealth is generally considered rendered at the patient’s location, if the provider is located in a different jurisdiction than the patient at the time of a telehealth visit, technically both states’ laws and requirements will apply to the provision of care. Over the last year, CCHP has covered some of the most prominent legal cases challenging this cross-state practice construct more extensively (see New Jersey Telemedicine Licensure Court Case – dated April 16, 2024 and CCHP 2024 Webinar Series: Cross-State Licensure Court Cases), and today’s newsletter seeks to provide additional legal updates and clarifications around policies applying to the use of telehealth across state lines.

CCHP’s February Newsletter is here! This month’s topics include – HHS Proposes Major Updates to HIPAA Security Rule to Strengthen Cybersecurity; HHS Releases AI Strategic Plan to Enhance Healthcare and Public Health; CMS Provides Billing Instructions for Opioid Treatment Programs (OTP) Telecommunications Add-On Codes; In Case You Missed It: CCHP Released “Federal Telehealth Policy FAQs”; Latest Developments in CCHP’s Telehealth Policy Finder and Policy Trend Map; Study Highlights Barriers to Expanding CMS Hospital-at-Home Program. 

Last month in partnership with the National Consortium of Telehealth Resource Centers (NCTRC), the Center for Connected Health Policy (CCHP) held a webinar on federal telehealth policy for 2025. During the hour-long webinar, over 100 questions were asked, and due to such a high number, CCHP was unable to answer all the questions before the webinar concluded.  As a telehealth resource center, CCHP is charged with providing one-to-one technical assistance and regularly fields questions from the public regarding telehealth policy. As a result, CCHP thought it would be helpful for our audience to have us answer some of the more frequently asked questions regarding current federal telehealth policy that we have received through the aforementioned channels in this week’s #TelehealthTuesday newsletter.