North Carolina Payers Telehealth Policies in Response to COVID-19
Using technology to deliver care is a critical strategy in NC Medicaid’s COVID-19 response efforts. Reducing unnecessary exposures for high risk and vulnerable patients will decrease the spread of infection and avoid hospital surge. Allowing health care professionals to provide care virtually and through telehealth will preserve critical personal protective equipment (PPE) and allow providers to remain healthy and continue to care for patients. Technology also frees needed hospital space for emergency response activities and ensures high-risk individuals remain safely at home while continuing to receive routine care.
Payers across North Carolina have quickly been updating their policies to cover new services and allow for new flexibilities. To help support alignment and education on these changes, NC Medicaid has developed this resource that outlines the various policies for payers serving NC Medicaid beneficiaries. Note that this is a high-level snapshot of offered services and coverage. This list of services will evolve with new guidance released by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services that affects the entire field.
Telehealth: Telehealth is the use of two-way real-time interactive audio and video to provide and support health
care services when participants are in different physical locations. Telehealth can include physical health care,
behavioral health care and other specialized therapies.
• Virtual Communication: Virtual communications include the use of technologies other than video (e.g.,
telephone or online portals) to enable remote evaluation and consultation support between a provider and a
beneficiary or a provider and another provider.
• Remote Patient Monitoring: Remote Patient Monitoring is the use of digital devices to measure and transmit
personal health information (like blood pressure) from a beneficiary in one location to a provider in a different location.
North Carolina Telemedicine Policy NCMT_Provider_FactSheet-TeleHealth_20210331