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07/27/20

July 2020 Telehealth Updates

With the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services extending the Public Health Emergency (PHE) due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many private practices as well as facilities and organizations want to know what does this mean for the extension of providing outpatient therapy services via telehealth. In this article, I will provide updates on outpatient therapy services delivered via telehealth for the traditional Medicare Part B program and some of the larger national insurance carriers. Medicare (Traditional) Aetna Anthem BCBS of Colorado Anthem BCBS of Connecticut Anthem BCBS of Georgia Anthem BCBS of Indiana Anthem BCBS of Kentucky

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05/26/20

Blue Cross Telehealth Websites

I have been receiving a significant number of questions regarding telehealth services covered by the various Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS) plans around the country. The expansion of telehealth services to include outpatient physical, occupational and speech therapy services by BCBS in each state will have different billing rules and regulations (place of service codes, CPT codes payable via telehealth), different start and end dates as well as different practice settings that can be reimbursed for providing telehealth services. In this article, I have provided the link to each states BCBS webpage where you can obtain the latest information on

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02/03/20

Aim Specialty Health Update

AIM Specialty Health has announced the launch dates for the AIM Rehabilitative program for Anthem’s Commercial Membership and Anthem’s Medicare Advantage Membership. This announcement impacts 2 states for Anthem’s Commercial Membership and 16 states for Anthem’s Medicare Advantage Membership. The AIM Rehabilitative program for Anthem’s Commercial Membership will relaunch April 1, 2020 for the states of The AIM Rehabilitative program for Anthem’s Medicare Advantage membership will launch April 1, 2020 and will impact the following states: I hope you found this article helpful. Thank you for being a Gold Member!

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07/17/19

Anthem Blue Cross Further Delays Implementation of AIM Specialty Health

Anthem Blue Cross has announced they will further delay the implementation of AIM Specialty Health and the prior authorization process for outpatient therapy services for the 13 states that were originally scheduled to begin with dates of service on and after July 1, 2019. On July 2, Anthem Blue Cross announced the implementation that began July 1, 2019 was being halted and would resume with dates of service on and after August 1, 2019. On July 16, 2019, Anthem Blue Cross announced they are

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07/03/19

Anthem Delays Preauthorization Implementation for Outpatient Therapy

Breaking News July 2, 2019: Anthem BC announces they will delay implementation of AIM until August 1, 2019. Here is the statement issued by Anthem:

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02/12/19

AIM Specialty Health

Anthem Blue Cross-Blue Shield has announced they are initiating a new utilization management (UM) program with AIM Specialty Health, a subsidiary of Anthem beginning in 5 states. This program will begin on March 1, 2019 in the states of Indiana, Louisiana, New York and Wisconsin and March 25, 2019 in California. This new UM program will impact all commercial enrollees receiving outpatient physical, occupational and speech therapy services. AIM has already completed 3 webinars and has 2 more 10-hour webinars planned. The next webinar is February 26, 2019 at 3:00pm ET and the last webinar is on March 20, 2019

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