Psychiatric Society of Virginia

COVID-19 RESOURCES

Billing for Professional Telehealth Distant Site Services During the Public Health Emergency — Revised

This corrects a prior message that appeared in our March 31, 2020 Special Edition.

Building on prior action to expand reimbursement for telehealth services to Medicare beneficiaries, CMS will now allow for more than 80 additional services to be furnished via telehealth. When billing professional claims for all telehealth services with dates of services on or after March 1, 2020, and for the duration of the Public Health Emergency (PHE), bill with:

• Place of Service (POS) equal to what it would have been had the service been furnished in-person
• Modifier 95, indicating that the service rendered was actually performed via telehealth

As a reminder, CMS is not requiring the CR modifier on telehealth services. However, consistent with current rules for telehealth services, there are two scenarios where modifiers are required on Medicare telehealth professional claims:

• Furnished as part of a federal telemedicine demonstration project in Alaska and Hawaii using asynchronous (store and forward) technology, use GQ modifier
• Furnished for diagnosis and treatment of an acute stroke, use G0 modifier

There are no billing changes for institutional claims; critical access hospital method II claims should continue to bill with modifier GT.

We are experiencing a high volume of calls from policyholders interested in learning more about how to best set up Telehealth services in order to meet the needs of their patients and clients. This information below reflects the best practices we endorse as of March 18, 2020.  Please understand that this information may change due to the evolving nature of this crisis and we would encourage you to check with your state board’s website and any professional association for which you are a member for updates.

https://www.americanprofessional.com/telehealth-and-the-corona-virus-covid-19/

COVID-19 and Telehealth - PRMS has provided a link to their webpage with additional resources regarding the coronavirus: https://www.prms.com/services/risk-management/telepsychiatry-resources/.

We recognize that there will be an increased need for mental health counseling and services due to the COVID-19 crisis. Your professional liability insurance policy through the PRMS Psychiatrists’ Program covers you for the rendering of psychiatric services as a volunteer in the state where you are licensed.  As a policy holder, your volunteer hours will not count against your total practice hours.

APA Will Not Hold Its 2020 Annual Meeting in Philadelphia, Plans to Support the Learning Needs of Psychiatrists Through Online Education

The 2020 Annual Meeting in Philadelphia will not take place in the wake of numerous travel restrictions and public health guidance associated with the pandemic spread of coronavirus (COVID-19). The meeting was scheduled for April 25-29. In lieu of the Annual Meeting, the APA will work with speakers to develop the 2020 APA On Demand product this spring. See the full announcement.  Read the FAQ.

APA and ePrescribing