![]() Sometimes, they are the only service done on a day, but sometimes they are done in addition to another E/M service. These time-based codes for discussion with the patient and/or family member or surrogate, may be done via telephone only. ![]() Advanced Care Planning Codes 99497, 99498 If the base code is not on the list, then the add-on prolonged services code cannot be performed by phone only. These codes can also be reported with psychotherapy codes 9087 which are on the phone only list. Keep in mind that these codes are most often used with office and hospital services that may not be billed via phone only, but still require audio and visual, real-time communication. The face-to-face prolonged care codes are added as phone only services. These medical nutrition therapy codes are time-based codes provided to individuals or groups by nutrition professionals. Individual and Group Medical Nutritional Services, 97802, 97803, 97804 You can read more detail here. It isn’t clear if all MACs are re-processing these claims, or if the group needs to re-submit each one. The bigger news is that CMS increased the fee for these codes on April 30, 2020, retroactive to March. It makes sense that codes defined as telephone codes may be billed for audio only phone calls. These include developmental/behavioral screening, psychological/neuropsychological testing, testing evaluation services, test administration and scoring, health behavior assessment and intervention. There are a large group of codes in the behavioral health medicine section that may be provided via phone only. However, the established patient visit codes 99201-99215 with which they are more frequently used are not on the phone only list. When a psychiatrist, psychiatric nurse practitioner or psychiatric physician assistant provides an E/M service for medication management and also provides psychotherapy on the same calendar day, the practitioner uses add-on codes 90833, 9088. You can watch a short video about this here. For Medicare patients, these services may now be provided with audio only phone calls. This long list of service includes the psychiatric diagnostic interview, individual, family and group psychotherapy, psychotherapy for patients in crisis and the add-on code for interactive complexity. This is a summary of the services that may be performed using phone only, and does not include all of the services or codes, so be sure to look at the excel sheet. ![]() CMS has not indicated that these are permanent changes. These rules are temporary, during the time of the public health emergency. Download the list to see for yourself which services these are. ![]() But, one bit of news that hasn’t gotten as much press is that there are some services that there are now codes on CMS’s list of telehealth services that do not require audio and video communication equipment, but can be performed via audio only. It’s old news that CMS has made major changes to its telehealth policy since March of 2020. These waiver provisions are in effect until the end of the PHE.The Aprevised telehealth list has a column “Can Audio-only Interaction Meet the Requirements” and some codes are indicated as “yes”.Medicare requires real-time, audio and visual communication for most telehealth services, such as office visits and hospital services.CMS issued multiple waivers and two interim final rules to support health care organizations and patients during the public health emergency in spring 2020.
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