Medicare Physician Fee Schedule for 2020 Includes Telehealth Changes

On July 29, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released its proposed revisions to the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule for 2020. The Proposed Rule was published in the Federal Register on August 14.

CMS proposed to add three new codes for treatment of opioid use disorder to the list of services that are eligible for telehealth reimbursement. These services may be delivered at any telehealth originating site, including the patient’s home, in accordance with the Substance Use-Disorder Prevention that Promotes Opioid Recovery and Treatment (SUPPORT) for Patients and Communities Act. CMS also proposed a bundled payment structure under which counseling and therapy for opioid use disorder may be delivered via live interactive video.

The proposed rule would refine CMS’s transitional care management and chronic care management codes, and create new codes for principal care management services for patients who have only one serious chronic condition. CMS is also requesting input on consent requirements for telehealth services, acknowledging practitioners’ concerns that current requirements for obtaining patient consent are overly burdensome.

Public comments on the proposals are due by September 27.