AAPM has been monitoring CDC guidance related to COVID-19. Today AAPM President Ajay D. Wasan, MD MSc issued the following message to members.
Dear Colleagues:
By now I am sure that you have received many lengthy COVID emails and so I will get to the point. AAPM has been monitoring CDC guidance related to COVID-19, and we offer the following thoughts to our members:
The CDC suggests delaying and not having patients come into the office for elective medical care. Certainly, it is a difficult issue to determine to what extent pain care is ‘elective’ vs. medically necessary, and the consideration for limiting outpatient pain care also depends on the extent of COVID-19 and the risk of acquiring it in your area.
At the very least it seems prudent to reschedule elective procedures/injections, initial evaluations, and follow-up visits in those patients at a high risk of complications from COVID-19. These subgroups include those 65 years old or older, those with important medical comorbidities (such as cardiac disease, pulmonary disease, or diabetes), the immunocompromised, and patients coming from nursing homes or long-term care facilities.
The CDC and the Trump administration have encouraged telemedicine visits in place of in-person follow up visits for elective medical care. The DEA has confirmed that it is reasonable in this crisis to renew controlled substance prescriptions after a telemedicine evaluation or telephone discussion with the patient when appropriate and if consistent with state law (such as by electronic prescribing to avoid a high risk patient coming in for a routine opioid follow up visit).
CMS has also relaxed the requirements for using telemedicine codes for billing and they have pledged to pay for these codes equivalent to in person visits. There are weblinks below that explain further how to use these codes effectively in your practice.
We are all struggling to adjust—both professionally and personally. In the coming weeks, our American Academy of Pain Medicine (AAPM) will work to keep us abreast of developments that are specific to our practice areas. Initially, we are providing updated billing and coding guidance that are consistent with the latest messaging coming from CMS regarding the expanded use of telemedicine codes. These insights were prepared under the guidance of the AAPM’s Coding and Reimbursement Committee, which represents our specialty at the CPT and RUC, and regularly provides information to AAPM members in the bi-monthly AAPM e-Newsletter.
Our AAPM will continue to monitor developments that are particular to pain medicine. Thank you for your continuing efforts on behalf of our patients.
Ajay D. Wasan, MD MSc
President AAPM