Telemedicine Options
Telemedicine has been approved for Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy, Speech-Language Pathologists, and Music Therapy
As telemedicine has been approved for Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy, Speech-Language Pathologists, and Music Therapy
there are a lot of questions to be answered.
Information about licensing and billing is critical, as well as understanding
how you can effectively treat patients over video calls. New information is available every day and our blog in the member area contains
the latest updates from billers and practices as they leverage this new technology inside their practices. Become a member so you can access
the latest information and contribute your own thoughts. In the meanwhile, here is what we know today...
Check with your insurance plans
As Insurance requirements and policies continue to be updated daily, please be aware that your practice's insurance and billing procedures may vary from what we are hearing in the market. Please make sure you check with your practice's insurance plans to determine what service will and will not be covered under telehealth, and which procedure codes should be used. Remember they are getting inundated with calls, so expect longer than usual hold times on the phone.
Get patient consent ahead of time
While insurance plans determine if and how telehealth should be handled, now is a good time to get your patient's consent ahead of time. The medicaid portal recently alerted that patient consent would be required BEFORE services are rendered: “The patient must initiate the service and provide consent to be treated virtually, and the consent must be documented in the medical record with date, time and consenting/responsible party before initiation of the service.”
Follow the link blow for very specific information from CMS
CMS.GOV - MEDICARE TELEMEDICINE HEALTH CARE PROVIDER FACT SHEET
What kind of video conferencing tools are available?
Typically HIPAA compliant telemedicine solutions are pretty expensive. Some EMR systems are offering video conferencing for additional fees, but choosing your own video conferencing solution allows your practice with the flexibility to pick a solution that fits your practice best. Also now that Medicaid has waived the requirement to use a HIPAA compliant solution there are many free solutions for you. Common solutions that your patients are already familiar with, like facetime, are during the coronavirus pandemic. However there is on FREE HIPAA Compliant solution on the market they we have found to work really well that you might consider offering your patients.
Doxy.me offers a telemedicine solution and offers a FREE non high definition option. Their professional version is $35 per provider.
doxy.me website
Other tools available in the market include; Zoom and VSEE
How can I be effective treating over telehealth?
Telemedicine is brand new to many therapists. Understandably there are plenty of questions around if therapy can be effective over video conference, and training classes are already becoming available. The training for speech-language pathologists titled teletherapy-bootcamp was recently offered FREE OF CHARGE!
Teletherapy Bootcamp Join our discussions as a member, as we exchange ideas and approaches to help us effectively treat our patients using telehealth.