Numerous states—including North Dakota, Hawaii, Indiana, Texas and New Hampshire—have been busy finalizing rulemaking and legislation impacting healthcare providers, telehealth and digital health companies, pharmacists and technology companies that deliver and facilitate virtual care. What have these states been up to over the last month?
The Biden administration’s January guidance that group health plans and insurers cover the costs of at-home COVID-19 tests has rattled insurers and employers. According to this SHRM article, insurers’ data processing systems have had difficulty paying for tests purchased by consumers at pharmacies, and self-insured employers have struggled to identify the best way to pay for tests. McDermott’s Jacob Mattinson, Teal Trujillo and Judith Wethall recently advised plan administrators to work with their third-party administrators to develop a process for coverage of over-the-counter COVID-19 tests and to develop procedures to reduce the risk of participant fraud.
In hopes that the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE) will soon end, Congress and the administration are evaluating the telehealth expansions and flexibilities put in place to respond to the PHE. As a result, the future for telehealth stakeholders remains uncertain. This article outlines various changes in Medicare telehealth reimbursement policy in effect during the PHE and identifies what actions would be required to make these changes permanent.
Lisa Schmitz Mazur discusses what states are doing to make telehealth more available, the changing Medicare reimbursement landscape and compliance considerations for providers implementing telehealth during this time.
by Amy M. Gordon and Susan Nash
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has released the 2012 version of Form 8889 (Health Savings Accounts [HSA]) and its Instructions. The Form 8889 is filed by HSA holders as an attachment to the IRS Form 1040. The Form 8889 is generally used to report contributions and distributions to and from the HSA. The 2012 versions of the form and instructions are substantially similar to the 2011 versions, however the 2012 form and instructions have been updated to include the 2012 contribution limits, and to reflect that qualified HSA distributions from health flexible spending accounts (FSA) or health reimbursement accounts (HRA) are no longer permitted. Please note the 2012 HSA contribution limits are $3,100 for an individual and $6,250 for a family.
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