General Telehealth Update for Providers

By Leigh Hayden

  March 25, 2020

iCare will continue to follow the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Department of Health Services (DHS) guidelines on telehealth during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is our top priority to keep our members and providers safe during this time. We encourage providers to stay informed of all CMS and DHS coverage updates.

iCare is not currently requiring prior authorization for covered telehealth services.

Latest information about telehealth services from CMS (Medicare):

Medicare Telehealth Updates

To read the Fact Sheet on this announcement visit: https://www.cms.gov/newsroom/fact-sheets/medicare-telemedicine-health-care-provider-fact-sheet

To read the Frequently Asked Questions on this announcement visit: https://www.cms.gov/files/document/medicare-telehealth-frequently-asked-questions-faqs-31720.pdf

You can find the Telehealth Toolkit for General Practitioners Here: https://www.cms.gov/files/document/general-telemedicine-toolkit.pdf

You can find the End-Stage Renal Disease Providers Toolkit Here: https://www.cms.gov/files/document/esrd-provider-telehealth-telemedicine-toolkit.pdf

Latest updates from DHS (Medicaid):

Medicaid COVID-19 Updates

Important DHS documents to review:

• 2020-15: Additional Services to Be Provided Via Telehealth (3/30/20)

• Alert 004: Tribal and Non-Tribal Federally Qualified Health Centers Billing Guidance for Telehealth Policy Changes in ForwardHealth Update 2020-09
• Alert 005: Temporary Changes to Narcotic Treatment Services (3/24/20)
• 2020-09: Changes to ForwardHealth Telehealth Policies for Covered Services, Originating Sites, and Federally Qualified Health Centers
• 2020-12: Temporary Changes to Telehealth Policy and Clarifications for Behavioral Health and Targeted Case Management Providers

We encourage providers to check the above links frequently to stay informed.

Thank you for your continued service to iCare members during this challenging time. If you have any additional questions regarding telehealth services, please email to NetDev@icarehealthplan.org.

Coverage and guidance from CMS and DHS is rapidly changing to meet the needs of Medicare and Medicaid providers and beneficiaries. iCare is making best efforts to update the information above timely. However, to ensure you are obtaining the most current guidance, we encourage providers to keep abreast of any COVID-19 announcements from CMS (CMS Current Emergencies General Information & Updates), DHS (COVID-19: ForwardHealth News and Resources) and the CDC (Center for Disease Control’s Coronavirus webpage).

IC230 Last Updated 3/31/20