Article Excerpt: The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has expanded the definition of telehealth services that are permanently eligible for reimbursement under the Medicare program to include audio-only services for established patients with mental illness/substance use disorders (SUDs) who are unable or unwilling to use video technology… These services had been temporarily reimbursed as part of the government’s response to the COVID-19 public health emergency, beginning with the presidential emergency declaration in March 2020. In December 2020, Congress approved the Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA) of 2021, a $1.4 trillion dollar package that—among many other provisions—permanently expanded mental health services provided via telehealth by easing geographic and site-of-service restrictions under the Medicare program. The rule is an enormous victory for patients and psychiatrists for which APA had advocated unceasingly for months.
Full Article: https://tinyurl.com/yh25r6dh
Article Source: Psychiatry Online