Recently, good news has been reported regarding the Public Health Emergency (PHE) and its eventual end.
As discussed in previous Monday Minutes, when the Public Health Emergency is officially declared over, it will terminate waivers that were put in place, specific to the PHE.
One of the key waivers that both home health and hospice have been able to take advantage of is the Face-to-Face encounter requirement being able to be done via telehealth with both audio and video, and the physician must document that it was done using both audio and video.
The good news is that CMS (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services) has updated their fact sheet related to the Public Health Emergency for the status of waivers for both home health and hospice individually.
Below is an excerpt that specifically shows the home health portion regarding telehealth specifically and how the waiver will expire 151 days (about 5 months) following the Public Health Emergency.
Below is the excerpt regarding the hospice section.
We would like to thank the National Association for Home Care and Hospice for challenging CMS to allow these waivers and to get these fact sheets updated because of the recent legislation that allowed for this.
Be sure to prepare yourself for the waivers that will expire as the Public Health Emergency ends.
There is thought with CMS issuing these transitional documents, giving you information about what it will look like after the Public Health Emergency ends, that there is a possibility it will end after its current duration expires, which has been extended to mid-October.
Be sure to stay close to both state and national home care and hospice associations as continuing information comes out on their websites constantly.
If there is anything that Healthcare Provider Solutions can do to help you, please do not hesitate to let us know.