March 20, 2020 Telehealth Resources for Clinicians Providing MAT, Including OTPs

This is an announcement from the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. The U.S. Government is working tirelessly to minimize the spread of the coronavirus disease. The National Institute on Drug Abuse has noted that people with Substance Use Disorders (SUDs) may be particularly vulnerable . We want to make sure providers, including Opioid Treatment Programs (OTPs), who treat patients with opioid use disorder (OUD) are aware of the options to use telehealth to prescribe medication for medication-assisted treatment (MAT) and other support services during the COVID-19 national health emergency: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) expands telehealth benefits for Medicare and Medicaid patients Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) guidance on issuing prescriptions for controlled substances during a public health emergency to patients for whom they have not conducted an in-person medical evaluation Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) guidance on potential flexibilities for take home medication, as well as Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) View CMS’ FAQs on billing add-on codes for take-home medication and the threshold for billing the weekly bundled payment codes for additional assistance applying these flexibilities to Medicare claims SAMHSA guidance on medical emergency exceptions to 42 CFR Part 2 regulations on use and disclosure of patient identifying information for treatment purposes and to support elevated need for telehealth services Office of Civil Rights (OCR) guidance on enforcement discretion for HIPAA Rules in connection with the use of telehealth