December 2024

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CHOICES Corner

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) instituted temporary changes to Medicare’s coverage for telehealth services during the recent pandemic. The time limit on coverage for the pandemic-related services will end soon. Restrictions on the geographic location and site of service in place pre-pandemic will resume on January 1, 2025. Consequently, most telehealth services will only be covered by Medicare for patients living in rural areas and certain medical settings. If you have been using telehealth services, it is important that you clarify with your healthcare provider whether or not your services are still approved by Medicare as a telehealth service. Simply because a service is a Medicare-covered service, does not mean that it is automatically covered by Medicare when it is delivered as a telehealth service. It is very important that you verify that the service you are receiving is still covered as a telehealth service. 

There are some exceptions to the telehealth rules that go into effect on January 1, 2025. Coverage for caregiver training, cardiovascular and pulmonary rehabilitation, psychological testing, developmental testing, and audiology/speech-language testing will continue to be covered on a provisional basis, as will telehealth services. Determination about making coverage for these categories permanent will be made following an analysis of all provisional codes at some point in the future. 

CMS did not finalize proposals to include coverage for continuous glucose monitoring to the Medicare-covered telehealth list of approved services. 

If you have questions about telehealth coverage under Medicare, call CHOICES 800 994 9422. 

This newsletter is supported by the Administration for Community Living (ACL), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of a financial assistance award totaling $577,233 with 100 percent funding by ACL/HHS. The contents are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement, by ACL/HHS, or the U.S. Government.

CAREGIVER Corner:

Caregiving Training

When most of us accept a new job, we inquire about the training we will receive from our employer, because we recognize that we cannot expect to be good at our job without proper training and support. However, most of us who are or have been caregivers stepped into the role without any training, preparation, or support. Frequently that happens because the need to step into the role of family caregiver was not anticipated, so there was no planning done. Often, we are well into the new role before we recognize all that the role entails. If you did not receive training to prepare you to be a caregiver, it is not too late to develop skills that can help you to be the most effective caregiver you can be and discover how to ensure you will not be crushed by compassion fatigue. 

Being a caregiver is physically and emotionally challenging. All caregivers need support to fill the role as well as they would like. Research has demonstrated that caregiver training can provide a source of stress relief for caregivers. Frequently, caregivers report feeling anxious about the responsibilities placed on them as caregivers. They fear making a mistake that can harm the person they care for. Feelings of anxiety can be incredibly stressful. Unrelieved stress can lead to all kinds of problems and is an unpleasant condition. Training can be effective in reducing caregiver stress, anxiety, and help the caregiver develop a better relationship with the care recipient. 

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