On January 1, 2009, Medicare will be expanding its coverage of telemedicine services. Skilled nursing facilities, in-hospital dialysis centers and community mental health centers will become eligible as originating sites for Medicare reimbursement.
The change will take place as the result of the Medicare bill, H.R. 6331, being
passed into law on July 16th after Congress voted to override President Bush’s
veto.
The bill, which addressed many issues including averting scheduled cuts in physician fees, has been highly controversial due to disagreements over spending cuts necessary to offset new expenditures in the legislation.
While the law goes into effect January 1, 2009, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has yet to develop and issue regulations detailing how the telemedicine components of the new law will be implemented. Representative from the American Telemedicine Association (ATA) and other stakeholders will be working with CMS as they develop these regulations.
The Virginia Telehealth Network will be continually monitoring this process and pass along additional information as it becomes available.
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