Updated Medicaid Home Health Rules Allow Face-To-Face Authorization Via Telehealth Services

On February 2, 2016, the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) updated Medicaid home health program rules to align them with Medicare home health rules, and in doing so, will now allow the physician encounter needed to authorize services to take place via telehealth technologies. CMS did not specifically define qualifying telehealth technologies, but did clarify that the face-to-face encounter could not take place via telephone or email. In general, the face-to-face encounter can take place though a telehealth delivery model recognized by the state as a physician or non-physician professional (NPP) encounter . . .