Publications

Section 3708 of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act (Pub. L. No. 116-136) amended sections 1814(a) and 1835(a) of the Social Security Act to allow nurse practitioners (NPs), certified clinical nurse specialists (CNSs), and physician assistants (PAs) to certify beneficiaries for eligibility under the Medicare home health benefit and oversee their plan of care. This is a permanent change.

Effective for claims with dates of service on or after March 1, 2020, these non-physician practitioners may bill the following codes:

• G0179: Physician
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Last week, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced a second round of emergency declaration waivers including:

Further Expansion of Telehealth in Medicare:

• CMS previously announced that Medicare would pay for certain services conducted by audio-only telephone between beneficiaries and their doctors and other clinicians. Now, CMS is broadening that list to include many behavioral health and patient education services. CMS is also increasing payments for these telephone visits to match payments for similar office and outpatient visits. This
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The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a letter thanking clinicians for their ongoing efforts to treat patients and combat COVID-19 and shared additional details on the new Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) improvement activity. As announced last month, clinicians who participate in a COVID-19 clinical trial and report their findings to a clinical data repository or registry many now earn credit in MIPS under the Improvement Activities performance category for the 2020 performance period by attesting to this new activity....

Last week, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced a new independent commission that will conduct a comprehensive assessment of the nursing home response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The commission will provide independent recommendations to the contractor to review and report to CMS to help inform immediate and future responses to COVID-19 in nursing homes.

“Safeguarding the health and, promoting the well-being and quality of life, of the most vulnerable and fragile citizens is a top priority for CMS,” said CMS Administrator Seema Verma.  “CMS has...