Telehealth Billing in the Age of COVID – and Beyond
Developed by Barbara Griswold, LMFT
Course content available in articles and video.
This course includes an edited video from a webinar and provides the latest information about billing for video and phone psychotherapy sessions during the COVID-19 pandemic. Information from colleagues isn’t always accurate or up-to-date, which can lead to reimbursement problems. This course dispels common telehealth billing myths to help avoid claim denials, and provides all the information needed to ethically bill for telehealth sessions. This beginner level course is applicable nationwide, and aimed at all psychotherapists, even those who don’t work directly with insurance.
Syllabus:
- Insurance coding for telehealth
- CPT codes, Modifiers, and Place of service codes
- Demonstration on a claim form and invoice
- How to correct claims when an error is made
- Insurance coverage for telehealth
- Coverage of phone vs. video sessions
- Copayments: Are they being waived? For how long?
- Is payment the same as for in-person sessions?
- Are out-of-network therapists being covered?
- Checking coverage: Where to get information, and what to ask
- Documentation
- How telehealth documentation varies
- Telehealth across state lines
- When is it legal to deliver telehealth to a client in another state?
- Malpractice coverage
- When the therapist goes out of state
- Telehealth regulation changes with COVID
- Is it necessary to use a HIPAA-Compatible Telehealth Platform?
- The names of some HIPAA-Compatible Platforms
- Giving up your Office
- Will Insurance Plans Allow It?
- What does the future hold for telehealth coverage?
Educational Objectives
- Identify how insurance coverage of telehealth coverage has changed due to the COVID pandemic.
- Describe how to code and bill for telehealth sessions in order to avoid claim denials and treatment interruption.
- Name two things clinicians should document for each telehealth session.
- Identify legal considerations before providing therapy across state lines.
THB201