Many patients, especially those with chronic care needs, require medical assistance beyond time spent at their physicians office. Identifying these needs has been more effective since the onset of CMS covered Annual Wellness Visits (AWV). This helps practitioners identify patients with chronic care and behavioral health needs.
With the expansion of CPT code (99487, 99489) for Chronic Care Management (CCM) physicians can extend telephonically to patients to discuss their needs, progress, medication compliance, specialist appointment updates and other needs. In addition, patients with Behavioral Health (BHI) needs CPT 99490 offers similar benefits for reviewing a patients progress or challenges.
Telemedicine has seen tremendous strides recently as both primary care and specialty care providers can now be accessed by a phone call. For families in rural areas or even in highly complex geographical settings this type of immediate access can be life savings. At the very least patient can also cut their cost for care by avoiding urgent care or even emergency care facilities.
As Medicare continues to look at proactive approaches to care discussions for enhanced access to remote monitoring services may soon be a reality.
