Comprehensive Primary Care Guide for Telehealth in West Virginia

BY: PCH TELEHEALTH CENTER OF EXCELLENCE in conjunction with WVAFP
Nancy A. Lohuis, M.D. FAAFP, Board Certified ABFM and American Board of Preventative Medicine Subspecialty of Clinical Informatics.
Board Member WV AFP

Disclosures: 

Comprehensive Primary Care Guide for Telehealth in West Virginia was created with funding assistance from the Health Promotion and Chronic Disease Division of the West Virginia Bureau for Public Health within the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources, with support from Cooperative Agreement Number 18-NU58-DP006528 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Nancy A. Lohuis, M.D., FAAFP, Board Certified ABFM and American Board of Preventative Medicine, Subspecialty of Clinical Informatics.
Dr. Lohuis has no disclosures

Disclaimers:

Telehealth policy, rules and regulations, coding and billing and guidelines are changing on a daily basis. There are many telehealth bills pending in Congress and others are likely to change at the state level as well. The information in this guide will be affected by the fluidity of the material it addresses.  We state that the information provided is what we believe to be correct as of February 1, 2022 and is intended for informational purposes only. Those using the guide must confirm current legal and billing information with their own sources and should not use this guide as a sole reference in their business and clinical policy decision making. The views presented in this guide are not necessarily the views of the author’s employer.

Acknowledgements:

I want to thank all who played a role in making this project possible especially the following:

• Gerry Stover, Executive of WV AFP
• Sheryn Carey, WV Bureau of Public Health
• Susan Sims, WV Bureau of Public Health
• Donna Umberger, Senior Office Manager at Mercer Medical Group, Princeton Community Hospital
• Melissa Kosinar, Nurse IT Analyst Ambulatory at Princeton Community Hospital
• Helenia Sedoski, R.D. who agreed to pilot our Medical Nutritional Therapy Telehealth Project
• Those at the Center for Connected Health Policy, National Consortium of Telehealth Resource Centers, and WV Medicaid who fielded my many questions.
• My clinical team at Mercer Medical Group
• Dr. Wallace Horne who gave us the vision for PCH Telemedicine Center of Excellence

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Table of Contents

Introduction

• Introduction
• Introduction Using Examples of Marketing Videos

Terminology, Statistics and Challenges

• Telehealth and Virtual Care Terminology
• WV Telehealth Summary (Spreadsheet)
• Telehealth Statistics and Your Practice
• Addressing Digital Challenges in West Virginia

Telehealth Consent, Laws, Licensure, Liability and Prescribing

• Telehealth: Consent, Laws, Licensure and Liability
• Prescribing of Controlled Substances using Telehealth
• Federal DEA Controlled Substance Prescribing Algorithm During PHE
• Table: 2022 WV Code: Update for Prescribing Controlled Substances
• Table: 2022 WV Code: Prescribing Limitations Update

Telehealth Practice Programs

• Getting Your Telehealth Program Started
• Responsibilities of Administrative Staff
• Information Specific to Clerical Staff
• Information Specific to Clinical Staff
• Information Specific to Providers

Telehealth Coding, Billing and Insurance

• Coding and Billing for Telehealth and Communications Technology-Based Services (CTBS)
• List of CMS Telehealth Covered Service CY 2022 (Spreadsheet)
• Telehealth WV Insurance Tracking Log (Spreadsheet)

Integrating Telehealth with Other Programs

• Remote Patient Monitoring
• Integrating Telehealth with Other Programs
• Data Brief: WV Medical Nutritional Therapy Pilot

Additional Resources and Links

• Additional Resources: Example of Medical Nutritional Therapy Contract
• Additional Resources: Example of Telehealth policy for Tug River FQHC
• PCH Telehealth Roadmap
• Additional Important Telehealth Links

*** Those in RED represent most important summaries in form of tables or spreadsheets which could be useful for quick reference.