JUN 03, 2020
Telehealth Video Requirements
Question: I’ve heard from someone outside of our practice, that CMS relaxed the video requirement on all E/M codes. Without confirmation from the Academy, we are not comfortable with that. Are we correct?
Answer: The CMS Interim Final Rule indicates that both audio and video are still required to bill office visit E/M codes (99201-99215) via telemedicine. CMS changed the definition of telehealth to include the telephone codes (99441-99443) and increased the payment for these codes to equal that of the E/M codes 99212-99214. They do not allow billing of the E/M office visit codes with audio only.
Visit Coding for telehealth for more information.