States Get Help Easing Telehealth Barriers in Medicaid, CHIP

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services released a telehealth toolkit Thursday aimed at helping states remove barriers to telehealth services in their Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Programs during the coronavirus crisis.

The goal is to make it easier for Medicaid and CHIP enrollees to receive health care at home rather than at a doctor’s office or emergency room, where they could become exposed to—or pass along—the virus.

The announcement follows previous CMS efforts during the coronavirus crisis to expand the use of telehealth services in Medicare and other federal health-care programs, including recent steps to allow Medicare to reimburse for 80 additional telehealth services.

Telehealth Barriers

States have broad flexibility in determining how to cover telehealth services in their Medicaid and CHIP programs, according to the toolkit.

The toolkit walks state policy makers through a variety of possible barriers to telehealth that may exist in their programs, and identifies areas where these restrictions can be removed.

These include restrictions on patient eligibility and provider eligibility, too-narrow definitions of covered services or of allowable telehealth technologies, and inadequate reimbursement of telehealth services.

The toolkit also includes suggestions about how states should address privacy, provider licensing and other considerations related to pediatric telehealth services.

“While not all patient interactions can be delivered through telehealth, our clinicians on the frontlines need every tool in their arsenal to fight this invisible enemy,” said CMS Administrator Seema Verma in a statement.

“I’m urging states to use this toolkit to make sure our Medicaid patients, particularly our children, can continue to receive needed care from the safety of their homes,” Verma said.