All health plans should be reimbursing for telehealth and telephone during the public health emergency.
The reimbursement rates should be equal to the rate for in person services.
Modifiers could be different – Some health plans use 95 and some still use GT.
POS could be 02 or 10.
Listen to your health plans, even if they want you to bill in a way that you are not used to.
DMHC APL 20-009 from March 18, 2020 states:
Pursuant to the authority granted in the California Emergency Services Act (Gov. Code sections 8566, et seq.), all health plans shall, effective immediately, comply with the following:
DMHC APL 20-013 from April 7, 2020 states:
A health plan may not exclude coverage for certain types of services or categories of services simply because the services are rendered via telehealth, if the enrollee’s provider, in his/her professional judgment, determines the services can be effectively delivered via telehealth. For example, a health plan may not categorically exclude coverage for Applied Behavioral Analysis services delivered via telehealth (video or telephone) during the State of Emergency.
Likewise, during the COVID-19 State of Emergency a health plan may not place limits on covered services simply because the services are provided via telehealth if such limits would not apply if the services were provided in-person. For example, if a health plan allows an enrollee to receive a particular covered service up to three times per week if the enrollee receives the service in-person, the health plan may not limit the service to only once per week if the service is delivered via telehealth.
The Department has heard from providers and enrollees that health plans are requiring their enrollees to access services through the plans’ contracted telehealth vendor (e.g., Teledoc) rather than covering telehealth services delivered by providers who have typically delivered services to the enrollees in person. During the COVID-19 State of Emergency, a health plan may not require enrollees to use the plan’s telehealth vendor, or a different provider from the one the enrollee typically sees, if the enrollee’s provider is willing to deliver services to the enrollee via telehealth and the enrollee consents to receiving services via telehealth.