The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has proposed to make temporary telehealth provisions under COVID-19, permanent for the first time.

CMS has issued a proposed rule to bring about permanent regulatory changes to telecommunication technologies that provide care under the Medicare home health benefit even after the expiration of public health emergency for COVID-19 pandemic.

The proposed rule is about permanently finalizing the amendment to the home health regulations beginning January 1, 2021. These regulations were outlined in a March 30 interim final rule in response to the COVID-19 public health emergency.

This implies that home health agencies can now continue to utilize telehealth while providing care to beneficiaries as a home health benefit.

This would be possible as long as the telecommunications technology is related to the skilled services being furnished is mentioned on the plan of care and is connected to a specific goal that indicates how such use would facilitate treatment outcomes.

The use of technology may not be a substitute for an in-person home visit that is ordered on the plan of care. Also, one cannot consider it as a visit for the purpose of patient eligibility or payment.

According to the CMS, though the use of technology might result in changes to the frequencies and types of in-person visits as mentioned on the plan of care.

This rule also proposes to let home health agencies to continue to report the cost of telecommunication technology as permitted administrative costs on the home health agency cost report.

These proposed changes are the first flexibilities that will be provided during the COVID-19 public health emergency that CMS proposes to make a permanent part of the Medicare program.

These proposals ensure that patients get access to the latest technology and give home health agencies predictability to continue using telehealth.

According to CMS estimates, Medicare payments to home health agencies in 2021 would increase in the aggregate by 2.6% or $540 million, as per the proposed policies.