The Alliance for Connected Care, which includes the American Health Care Association/National Center for Assisted Living among its 150 members, sent a letter to the head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), Mehmet Oz, to urge more permanent telehealth policy enhancements.

The goal of the group is to give uninterrupted beneficiary access to telehealth services for providers that furnish telehealth services from their home versus an office setting.  

“We believe that there is room to build on this movement by creating a path for providers without a physical practice location. As providers, we are encouraged by CMS’ vision of empowering clinicians to provide the care their patients need how, when, and where they need it,” the letter said. “CMS’ goals of continued digital health innovation allows clinicians to do so, but the home reporting requirement for virtual-only providers contradicts the agency’s mission.”

The coalition asked CMS to work with stakeholders to develop an alternate method of determining location for the purposes of payment that does not require the reporting of a home address.

“One potential option would be to allow a business address to be reported for purposes of enrollment, and a geographic indicator such as a zip code be reported for payment adjustment by geographic cost and wage index,” the group said.

In addition, the letter requested that CMS work with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to encourage a complementary solution for medical practitioners who report a practice location while prescribing a controlled substance. “The DEA also requires a physical billing location for some telehealth visits; greater alignment across these program requirements would reduce administrative burden,” the letter said.

Read the full letter at https://tinyurl.com/5h3my3eh.

Questions or comments? Contact Patrick Connole at pconnole@parkplacelive.com.