KMAP BULLETIN: Telemedicine Billing Guidelines During COVID-19 Emergency

Date: 05/08/20

KMAP GENERAL BULLETIN 20105 (PDF)

The Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) recognizes that providers who bill Medicare for telemedicine services have received different instructions from CMS on how to bill during the current COVID-19 pandemic period.

Per MLN (MM10152), with implementation date of January 2018, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued this guidance on the use of the GT modifier for telemedicine: “Change Request (CR) 10152 eliminates the requirement to use the GT modifier (via interactive audio and video telecommunications systems) on professional claims for telehealth services. Use of the telehealth Place of Service (POS) Code 02 certifies that the service meets the telehealth requirements.”

Kansas Medicaid followed suit and guidance change for billing telemedicine services was issued in General Bulletin 18004 (PDF).

At this point in time, Kansas Medicaid does not plan to change their guidance as it relates to the billing of telemedicine services using the POS 02 designation. Both the GT and 95 modifiers in the Kansas Medicaid System are informative and claims would not fail if included as a modifier on a claim. We would therefore not expect providers would need to do anything with their Medicare claims to be accepted by the Medicaid Management Information System (MMIS). The Managed Care Organization (MCO) system should be configured in a like manner so cross-over claims utilizing either a GT or 95 modifier would not be denied.