Telecoding for telemedicine

Some coders were already working from home either full time or a few days a week. Many practices and health care facilities implemented remote coding prior to the public health emergency.

Now, more of you are. I call it: Telecoding for Telemedicine

When we look back on this period, on our personal and professional lives, that’s how I’m going to remember. Telecoding for Telemedicine.

I continue to be amazed at all of you who keep working in the day-to-day of medical practices, hospitals, and billing companies. Thank you for keeping the work going, the claims batching and hopefully, the cash flowing. Thanks to the IT staff who got telemedicine working in record time.

And heartfelt thanks to the clinicians and staff who are working on the front lines, seeing patients.

Keeping up-to-date with coding and billing requirements is a challenge in normal times, and these are not normal times. If CMS wouldn’t update their FAQ every week, it would certainly help. And, if commercial payers would all follow the same rules, it would help. But, since neither of those things are going to happen, this is what we can do:

• Share resources and knowledge
• Keep as many claims going out the door as possible
• Be the person in your office (virtual office) who provides calm and certainty, and reassures those around you
• Know that you will need to appeal denials, re-submit claim and chase down payment, but let’s not borrow tomorrow’s problems

My part in this is to continue to update the articles on:

• Telemedicine,
• Phone calls,
• Virtual visits, and
• Interprofessional consults.

Congress passed the 2023 Consolidated Appropriations Act in Dec. 2022 that continues to allow Medicare to pay for telehealth visits after the PHE ends until the end of December, 2024. Looking for other updates related to telehealth? Click on the first link, telemedicine, above.

Perhaps we’ll be Telecoding for Telemedicine for a long time.

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