Medicare telehealth services during the first year of the pandemic: program integrity risks
- Collection:
- Health Policy and Services Research
- Series Title(s):
- Data brief (United States. Department of Health and Human Services. Office of Inspector General)
- Contributor(s):
- United States. Department of Health and Human Services. Office of Inspector General. Office of Evaluation and Inspections, issuing body.
- Publication:
- Washington, D.C. : U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General, September 2022
- Language(s):
- English
- Format:
- Text
- Subject(s):
- Fraud -- prevention & control Government Regulation Medicare Telemedicine COVID-19 United States
- Genre(s):
- Technical Report
- Abstract:
- Why OIG Did This Review. The COVID-19 pandemic created unprecedented challenges for how Medicare beneficiaries access health care. In response, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) took a number of actions to temporarily expand access to telehealth for Medicare beneficiaries. In addition, CMS temporarily paused several program integrity activities, including medical reviews of claims. In a related report, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) found that the use of telehealth increased dramatically during the first year of the pandemic. More than 28 million Medicare beneficiaries - about 2 in 5 - used telehealth services that first year. In total, beneficiaries used 88 times more telehealth services during the first year of the pandemic than they did in the prior year. The changes to Medicare telehealth policies, along with the dramatic increase in the use of telehealth, underscore the importance of determining whether providers are billing for telehealth services appropriately and how to best protect Medicare and beneficiaries against fraud, waste, and abuse. This data brief describes providers’ billing for telehealth services and identifies ways to safeguard Medicare from fraud, waste, and abuse related to telehealth. This information can help CMS, Congress, and other stakeholders determine what safeguards may be needed as they consider permanent changes to telehealth policies in Medicare. This report is part of a series that examines the use of telehealth in Medicare and the characteristics of beneficiaries who used telehealth during the pandemic.
- Copyright:
- The National Library of Medicine believes this item to be in the public domain. (More information)
- Extent:
- 1 online resource (1 PDF file (34 pages))
- Illustrations:
- Illustrations
- NLM Unique ID:
- 9918715886606676 (See catalog record)
- Permanent Link:
- http://resource.nlm.nih.gov/9918715886606676