On October 6, 2020, CMS issued this QSO-21-03-Hospitals/CAHs memorandum. This is a 12-page memorandum. Also included with this QSO is a Hospital Mandatory COVID-19 Reporting Enforcement Workflow document: Facilities to Report The following hospitals should report the data elements specified in the table below on a daily basis, except Psychiatric and Rehabilitation hospitals will report weekly: Short term Long term …
CDC Updates “How COVID is Spread” Webpage
On October 5, 2020, CDC issued updated guidance to its How COVID-19 Spreads website, which includes information about the potential for airborne spread of the virus that causes COVID-19. This updated guidance was announced via a Media Release. “CDC continues to believe, based on current science, that people are more likely to become infected the longer and closer they are …
COVID-19 Updates – Digest for Week of August 24, 2020
This work week is not quite over yet (I’m writing this on Thursday morning) however there are some items I want to be sure you’re aware of before more information is provided. Yesterday I posted QSO-20-37-CLIA, NH Issued – Interim Final Rule Guidance. If you read that blog immediately after it was posted, you saw this with one big exception: …
Cue the Theme Music from “Jaws”…Flu Season is Right Around the Corner
“The real risk is that we’re going to have two circulating respiratory pathogens at the same time.” This is the statement made by Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to Time magazine last month. He went on to say this: “In high-risk groups we know flu by itself can cause substantial morbidity and …
COVID-19 Updated and New Information – Early August 2020
FAQs: COVID-19 Testing at Skilled Nursing Facilities/Nursing Homes was updated August 5, 2020. This is an 8-page document that answers questions about COVID testing, safety precautions during testing, provider order for testing, reporting, CLIA certificates, etc. CDC updated this return to work guidance again on Monday, August 10, 2020. COVID-19 FAQs on Medicare Fee-for-Service Billing was updated August 7, 2020. …
Administration Proposes to Expand Telehealth Benefits Permanently for Medicare Beneficiaries Beyond the COVID-19 PHE
This Press Release announced CMS changes as well as an Executive Order signed on Monday, August 3, 2020. “The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is proposing changes to expand telehealth permanently, consistent with the Executive Order on Improving Rural and Telehealth Access that President Trump signed today. The Executive Order and proposed rule advance our efforts to improve …
COVID-19 FAQs on Medicare Fee-for-Service Billing Updated Again
This 140-page COVID-19 FAQ document was updated on July 28, 2020. This is what’s new in this version during July: Page 10 – Diagnostic Laboratory Services … Question: If a physician/non-physician practitioner (NPP) reports CPT code 99211 “Office or other outpatient visit for the evaluation and management of an established patient that may not require the presence of a physician”, …
News Alert: Provider Reimbursement Available for Counseling Patients to Self-Isolate at Time of COVID-19 Testing
The following News Alert was issued mid-day on Thursday, June 30, 2020: CMS and CDC announce provider reimbursement available for counseling patients to self-isolate at time of COVID-19 testing Today, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are announcing that payment is available to physicians and health care providers to …
Recent COVID-19 Information and Updates: 2nd Week of July
MLN Matters Number: SE20011 Revised was posted on Friday, July 17, 2020 This is a 16-page MLN. Look for the red ink within this document. The first occurrence is found on page 11. Keep reading as there is more clarification regarding the SNF Benefit Period Waiver as well as billing. Testing Guidelines for Nursing Homes were updated by CDC on …
Recent COVID-19 Information and Updates
Today’s blog is a digest of recent postings related to COVID-19. FDA Warns Consumers of Risk of Methanol Contamination in Certain Hand Sanitizers This is a July 2, 2020 update. The FDA is warning consumers and health care providers that the agency has seen a sharp increase in hand sanitizer products that are labeled to contain ethanol (also known as …