AHA asks CMS to expand telemedicine requirements
It’s great that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) expanded its telemedicine requirements, but they haven’t gone far enough, says the American Hospital Association (AHA).
Last week, AHA sent CMS a letter commending proposed changes which would allow hospitals to credential and privilege by proxy those telemedicine providers from hospitals in compliance with CMS’s Conditions of Participation (CoP). However, the AHA points out that CMS should go a step further and allow hospitals to privilege by proxy providers coming from organizations other than hospitals as long as the other organization, such as a radiology group, complies with the Medicare Conditions of Coverage.
AHA states that these proposed changes will benefit all hospitals, especially rural organizations which are frequent users of telemedicine services, but often lack the resources to adequately credential and privilege these providers on their own.
About the Author: Emily Berry is an associate editor at HCPro in the credentialing market. In addition to managing information on CRC she writes the Briefings on Credentialing newsletter and the Credentialing Resource Center Connection weekly email newsletter. A native of Ohio, she graduated from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland before moving east to attain her MS degree in journalism from Boston University.
