On Wednesday, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Proposed 2025 Physician Fee ScheduleIt includes recommendations on the scope of application of digital health tools, including digital therapeutics and telemedicine services.
To support access to behavioral health services, CMS proposed that Medicare pay for digital mental health treatment devices used in conjunction with behavioral health treatment plans.
According to a statement from the agency, “We propose creating three new HCPCS codes and will monitor how digital mental health treatment devices are used as part of overall behavioral health care.”
“We also propose to create six G codes that would be billed by practitioners in specialties with limited services (including clinical psychologists, clinical social workers, marriage and family therapists, and mental health counselors) under the Mental Illness Diagnosis and Treatment Services Act. These would mirror the current interprofessional counseling CPT codes used by practitioners who are eligible to bill for E/M visits.”
CMS also proposed adding new services to the list of telehealth services, including telehealth for caregiver education, treatment of opioid use disorder, and audio-only telehealth services when patients are unable to use video services or do not consent to using video.
The agency also proposed continued coverage for telehealth services introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, these services are set to expire at the end of this year. Congress should expand coverage to ensure these services remain in effect.
The PFS draft is subject to a 60-day comment period that expires on September 9.
The bigger trend
Another aspect of the PFS is the proposal to reduce physician payments by 2.93% in 2025. As reported By ~ MobiHealthNews Sister Publishers Healthcare financial news.
The president of the American Medical Association said, “Deaths from cancer continue to occur.”
The decline contrasts with expectations that Medicare reimbursements for hospital outpatient care will increase 2.6 percent next year.
