Included in this article: Telehealth and the Government Shutdown – October 1, 2025 Telehealth Codes for 2025 Telehealth Update – March 19, 2025 Place of Service Update from MLN Matters CPT® Changes in 2025 The Future of Telehealth and Virtual Care CMS Telehealth FAQ Calendar Year 2025 October 1, 2025 Telehealth and the government shutdown […]
Interprofessional Internet Consultations
CMS recognizes and pays for six codes for interprofessional consults codes 99446–99449, 99451, 99452 See also HCPCS codes developed in 2025 for behavioral interprofessional consults | G0546–G0551 These codes were updated in 2023. Codes 99446, 99447, 99448, 99449 and 99451 may now be performed by physicians and other qualified health care professionals. Because these codes […]
CPT® Codes (99421-99423) – and Payment for – Online Digital Evaluation and Management (E/M) Services
Or, as I call them: message, manage, message. There are CPT codes for online digital E/M services. CPT developed a set of CPT® codes for use by physicians, physician assistants and advanced practice nurse practitioners performing brief, online E/M services via a secure platform There are also CPT® codes for use by clinicians who do […]
Coding Telehealth Visits: Place of Service
**Please see our primary telehealth article for the latest telehealth coding updates. Coding telehealth visits changes faster than the weather here in New England. The resources on the site relate to Medicare policy and CPT codes and rules. Unfortunately, they don’t address individual commercial payer policies. There are two new place of service (POS) codes […]
Is it or isn’t it a Telehealth Service?
Many payers and practices use the broad term telehealth to describe services that are not done face-to-face with a patient CMs describes telehealth services as non-face-to-face services that are on its telehealth list During the public health emergency, CMS eased the rules related to telehealth The flexibilities remain in effect for RHCs and FQHCs for […]
Specimen Collection For COVID-19
This post discusses Medicare changes at the START of the PHE. It is for HISTORICAL REFERENCE ONLY CMS’s 4/30/2020 rule states that practices could bill 99211 for new or established patients during the public health emergency for COVID-19 specimen collection CPT had previously recommended this The new HCPCS codes (G2023, G2024) for COVID-19 specimen collection […]
Medicare Changes Telehealth Rules, Again
This post discusses Medicare changes at the START of the PHE. It is for HISTORICAL REFERENCE ONLY. Some codes in this post have since been deleted. This note added 2/11/2025 Medicare changes telehealth rules, again: April 30, 2020 interim final rule with comment period (IFC) https://www.cms.gov/files/document/covid-final-ifc.pdf CMS released a second IFC with policy changes during […]
Overview of Medicare Telehealth Services
Please see the Telemedicine article for the rules and guidelines for use during the COVID-19 public health emergency. Medicare covers some services performed via real-time audio and video between a patient in an underserved area and a physician or other practitioner who is not in the same place as the patient. Requirements for Medicare telehealth […]
Virtual Communication: HCPCS Codes G2010, G2250, G2251, G2252; CPT® 98016
Virtual communications are not considered telehealth These HCPCS codes were developed by CMS for virtual communication They are not on CMS’s list of telehealth services and do not use real-time, interactive, audio/visual communication They do require verbal consent; a single consent can be obtained for all communications based technology services annually for Medicare patients In […]
Modifier 95, 93: Telemedicine
CPT® has two modifiers for telemedicine. CMS and private payers regularly change their instructions about using these modifiers and what place of service to use. Modifier 95 is for use with real-time, audio/visual visits. Modifier 93 is for audio-only telehealth services Modifier 93: Synchronous Telemedicine Service Rendered Via Telephone or Other Real-Time Interactive Audio-only Telecommunication […]