December 6, 2018
An ever-increasing number of patients receive their healthcare via telehealth. This allows for members to be seen from the comfort of their home, or during a break at work, to diagnose health issues like cold and flu symptoms, allergies, ear infection, rash, and skin problems.
Recently, there has been a trend of patients accessing telehealth as an option for behavioral health treatment and diagnosis. A recent Becker’s Hospital Review article describes how telehealth for behavioral healthcare services has many benefits, including alleviating stigma and privacy concerns and ease of access. For patients where time off work means no pay, leveraging telehealth can mean continued treatment and engagement, and a healthier patient.
Premera offers telehealth as a covered benefit to our members and includes communications such as email, telephone, and video. The benefits available for telehealth service will depend on the terms of the members coverage, but most often apply standard member cost shares.
Do you treat patients via telehealth? Update the comments section of the Provider Update Form to let your patients know you provide telehealth services.
For more information, and to ensure your claims are correctly coded for telehealth services, see the current payment policy for Telehealth/Telemedicine Services or contact Physician and Provider Relations at 877-342-5258, option 4.