Amy Lerman, Member of the Firm in the Health Care & Life Sciences practice, in the firm’s Washington, DC, office, was quoted in Part B News, in “Don’t Let OIG Fraud Alert Disrupt Your Practice’s Telehealth Program,” by Julia Kyles. (Read the full version – subscription required.)
Following is an excerpt:
The latest special fraud alert warned treating practitioners about telemedicine companies that recruit providers in order defraud Medicare and other programs (PBN 8/15/22). However, the alert should not discourage you from using the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE) waivers to provide telehealth services to your patients.
“Both at the federal and state level, these waivers have allowed telemedicine providers to expand the reach of their services,” says Amy Lerman, member of the firm with Epstein Becker Green in Washington, D.C.
Flagged activities aren’t off limits …
Legal experts emphasized the importance of complying with the rules even though they’ve been relaxed. That means sticking with the basics, such as appropriate documentation and coding, following the rules for telehealth services that are in place during the waiver period, performing internal reviews of your claims and, if necessary, returning overpayments.
“My sense is that even with the waivers that have and continue to be in place, the emphasis behind these waivers was to ensure access to safe and effective health care services, and not to diminish the compliance obligations that providers have when providing such services,” Lerman says.
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