Access to healthcare has long been an issue for patients across the country, especially in rural areas where they have limited access to healthcare practitioners. Since the early 2000s, the delivery of medical services through telemedicine has grown and improved. In response, Medicare spending on telemedicine has increased exponentially, due in part to the AMA adding telemedicine codes that allow for Medicare coverage.
Medicare pays for telehealth services when interactive telecommunication tools are used by healthcare providers to assess patients. For example, a variety of FDA-approved remote medical monitoring devices will be covered when they are used to monitor and treat patients. The optic Icare Home Tonometer is one such remote device that frequently measures intraocular pressure (IOP) which lowers the risk of extensive optic nerve damage often missed during periodic eye exams.
According to Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), remote patient monitoring continues to have a positive impact on patients because they can share live-time data with their providers from home or more accessible locations. This data can be used for diagnosis, treatment, prevention of disease and injuries, research, assessment, and for the continuing education of healthcare providers. Now there is information available about how to use the new Medicare billing codes for remote glaucoma patient monitoring. These new reimbursement codes make glaucoma treatment less expensive and thus more accessible for ophthalmologists and their patients.
For more information on the new billing codes for remote patient management, check out the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services fact sheet. Or contact us today to see how we can help.
