Telehealth Face to Face? Your Hospice Must Report it on the Hospice Claim!
CMS finalized last year that by 1/1/2027, hospices would have to indicate if a FTF visit was completed by use of audio and video telehealth communications. We were unsure what that would look like, because hospices never include the administrative task of the "face to face" on our claims. CMS has now issued a "Change request" to the MACs and published a MLN Matters article (MLN 14495) for hospice providers explaining the logistics of this requirement.
It is a simple requirement, for data collection only, and will not change our reimbursement at all. The bigger picture- operations! How will this "get to the claim?". This will vary, based on how the hospice team is documenting their FTF visits.
Questions to Ask:
Does your physician and NP team document in the EMR? If not, now may be the time to start!
Does the EMR have a way of noting clearly that this is telehealth?
Ask the EMR if they are preparing for the requirement that these telehealth FTF must be reported on the claim.
If your physician or nurse practitioner will continue documenting outside of the EMR and you are uploading their face-to-face (FTF) visit documentation, it's essential to establish a clear communication process with your billing team. This ensures the visit is properly captured and flows to the claim — just as it does for other team members' visits.
Please see our tool below for more details.
You can also download the MLN Matters article here:
