What Can Dentists Do during the Covid-19 Pandemic?

dentist businesses during covid-19By: Chase Howard

Like most medical practices and businesses in Florida, dental practices have been deemed non-essential except for emergency type services. For good reason, non-life threatening care, surgeries and services are put on hold to help curb the spread of COVID-19, which has left providers with the question of what they can do to maintain and treat patients remotely.

Recently, the American Dental Association (ADA) provided helpful guidance on the difference between emergency and nonemergency care, as well as the use of teledentistry.

Teledentistry is the use of a telehealth system through a variety of different technologies to deliver virtual health services, including dentistry.

Telehealth includes live video (synchronous), store and forward (asynchronous), remote monitoring, and mobile health. Live video is a live, two-way transmission of audiovisual telecommunications. Store and forward is a recorded file of the patient’s health information. Remote monitoring allows a provider to track patient health data through the use of devices which transmit data to a portal which the provider can securely access. Mobile health is the use of personal devices to share health information and education.

The ADA has echoed local governments calls to alleviate the pressure on emergency services by having healthcare professionals postpone all elective services and non-emergency care. The ADA put forth guidance to help individuals and dentists determine what constitutes a dental emergency, which includes issues that are potentially life threatening and require immediate treatment. Immediate treatment would include stopping bleeding or treating severe pain, infections, or conditions. A more complete guide can be found here.Continue reading

Webinar | Emergency Telemedicine Education: From Setup to Billing and COVID-19

emergency telehealth webinarJust the other day CMS issued new rules and temporary waivers to help combat the COVID pandemic. We are getting flooded with questions about telemedicine in particular and wanted to highlight some of the points of the March 31st update that relate to telehealth.

  • Hospitals may use and bill for telehealth services so that patients can be screened without presenting at a hospital. The telehealth screening will allow hospitals to determine the most appropriate site for care, thereby minimizing the patient’s risk of exposure to COVID-19.
  • Health care providers using telehealth will be able to bill for telehealth services at the same rate as in-person services of the same kind and level. Allowable telehealth services have also been expanded during the health care crisis.
  • Importantly, a patient’s home may now serve as the originating site for Medicare telehealth services. CMS is also allowing for required supervision of lower level clinicians to be accomplished through virtual technology if appropriate for a patient’s particular situation.
  • Further, providers, including practitioners, may be able to temporarily enroll in Medicare to be able to assist with the current health care crisis.

Even though CMS has created some flexibility during this incredibly uncertain time…something about telemedicine laws remaining tricky and not being a one size fits all suit. Attorney Susan St. John will give you all of the details on how telemedicine set up, billing questions and more! Join us for this free webinar.

April 14 @ 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm

Free