Claims Lines Steady as Waivers Extended
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) extended the COVID-19 public health emergency including key waivers for telehealth until April 2021,
Under the emergency, HHS has allowed more types of providers to bill Medicare for telehealth services and has granted waivers for audio-only telemedicine to be reimbursed.
The extension comes as new FAIR Health data show that telehealth claim lines the individual services or procedures listed on an insurance claim continued to be relatively steady through October, though wildly outpacing 2019 levels.
Telehealth accounted for 5.61% of medical claims lines in October 2020, a giant leap from 0.18% in October 2019, the nonprofit s Monthly Telehealth Regional Tracker showed.