Telehealth on hold: Is Medicare retroactive payment guaranteed?

Congress likely will grant retroactive reimbursement for physicians and other clinicians providing medical services via telecommunications — but it is not guaranteed. Here is the forecast from Kyle Zebley, senior vice president, public policy, of the American Telemedicine Association, and executive director of ATA Action, its advocacy affiliate

Medical Economics: How likely is it that Congress will allow retroactive reimbursement for online or telephone medical visits that take place right now?

Kyle Zebley: I think it is likely. But as ever, as an advocate, as somebody that is working on behalf of our membership to get the best deal we can out of Congress, we've got to understand that they might not. The request that we are making is a reasonable one, and one that I think will find currency with our bipartisan congressional champions. And that request to your point is that Congress will reimburse and make whole those Medicare providers who are delivering care throughout the shutdown of services. It’s the right thing to do for them, the providers, it's the right thing to do for the community, and my hope is that they will allow for a process to do so. But there is no guarantee, and we just have to keep on pushing. And nobody should trust that it will happen until it's there in black and white, in legislative text and getting a signature from President Trump.