Are you missing out on patients and seeing more cancellations due to the coronavirus crisis? Check out this new optometry telemedicine guide from Tidewater Optometric Consulting Services.
If your optometry clinic has seen large drops in appointments due to coronavirus, then Tidewater Optometric Consulting Services can help. They have launched a new guide to the benefits of telemedicine in this unprecedented time.
You can provide consultations and guidance through telemedicine for some patients who have acute eye problems. This helps to protect their eye health while also keeping them safe from the virus.
Dr Tom Cheezum of Tidewater Optometric Consulting Services helps optometrists to bill correctly, and is also a leading authority on telehealth billing and coding.
More information can be found at: https://optometricconsulting.com
The site explains that many local optometrists are having patients cancel appointments out of fear of the current coronavirus outbreak. However, using CPT codes for telemedicine, clients may still be able to provide care for patients.
Congress has recognized that doctors of optometry are fully recognized as physicians in the nation’s COVID-19 mobilization efforts.
Primary eye care physicians are a critical part of the public health solution, and it’s important for doctors to be able to continue their services. Telemedicine is an effective way to provide care in some situations where patients develop eye infections or other acute problems.
Dr Tom Cheezum explains that there are a few stipulations that need to be adhered to in order to meet CPT and HIPAA requirements.
Firstly, the request for care must be initiated by the patient. They also have to give their verbal consent to receive care in this way. The service must also be provided through a HIPAA-compliant secure platform.
Skype, FaceTime, WhatsApp, and email are not HIPAA compliant, because these services do not provide a Business Associate Agreement to providers. However, it’s acceptable to use secure video through an EHR patient portal, Zoom, or Doxy.me.
Tidewater Optometric Consulting Services has 40 years of experience as a Certified Professional Coder and Certified Ophthalmology Professional Coder. This allows them to provide clients with expert guidance in the areas of record keeping and medical billing and coding.
They state: “Our consulting work has helped our Optometry and Ophthalmology clients correct medical records errors which would have exposed them to audit problems and showed them how to properly do medical billing and coding to maximize income.”
Full details on their service can be found on the URL above, or by visiting: https://optometricconsulting.com/blog/f/telemedicine-codes-for-optometry
