31% Of Medicare Distant Site Telehealth Services Claims Did Not Meet Medicare’s Telehealth Requirements

Of 100 sampled claims for Medicare distant site telehealth services provided during 2014 and 2015 that did not have a corresponding originating site claim, 31 (31%) did not meet Medicare's telehealth requirements. The Office of the Inspector General (OIG) estimates that Medicare could have saved about $3.7 million during this time by avoiding paying these and similar claims for services that failed to meet Medicare’s telehealth requirements.

Medicare telehealth payments include a professional fee, paid to the clinical professional performing the service at a distant site, and an originating-site fee, paid to the facility where the . . .