The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) recently announced additional regulatory waivers and rule changes to address COVID-19.
As described in the announcement, CMS had previously announced that Medicare would pay for certain services conducted by audio-only telephone between beneficiaries and their doctors and other clinicians. With these latest changes, CMS is broadening that list to include psychotherapy services. CMS is also increasing payments for these telephone visits to match payments for similar office and outpatient visits.