Creative delivery of outpatient hospital services during the COVID-19 PHE

Why This Topic Matters

During the COVID-19 PHE, hospitals and clinicians had to adapt outpatient service delivery and billing processes to maintain access while reducing exposure risk. Understanding the scope of the waiver-based options and the associated coding categories helps organizations identify which services are addressed in the article and where to look for operational and billing guidance.

Article Sections

1. Waivers and flexibilities

   Introduces the Medicare waiver framework used during the public health emergency and the general hospital service delivery options discussed in the article.

2. Telehealth prior to the PHE

   Summarizes the pre-PHE telehealth environment, including the general settings and practitioner types involved.

3. Telehealth during the PHE

   Covers the emergency-era expansion of telehealth coverage and the related Medicare policy changes described in the article.

4. Billing for telehealth during the PHE

   Describes the hospital and practitioner billing framework discussed for telehealth services during the public health emergency.

5. Billing for outpatient therapy services during the PHE

   Addresses the outpatient therapy service delivery approaches referenced for the emergency period.

6. Other professional CBTS

   Introduces the other communication-based technology services discussed apart from telehealth.

7. E-visits

   Summarizes the article’s discussion of online digital evaluation and management services and related code families.

8. Virtual communication services

   Covers brief communication-based services and remote evaluation services described in the article.

9. Telephone E/M services

   Discusses telephone-based evaluation and management services addressed for the PHE timeframe.