Employment Law Report

On July 30, 2020, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) revised its billing guidance to allow for payment to healthcare professionals who counsel patients, at the time of COVID-19 diagnostic testing, about the importance of self-isolating following testing and prior to the onset of symptoms. Providers should discuss with patients the signs and symptoms of COVID-19, the immediate need for isolation (including before test results are available), and the importance of informing their close contacts to separate from the tested individual. The patient should also be informed that if he or she tests positive, the patient will be contacted by the public health department for contact tracing, and that services may be available to aid the patient’s self-isolation. A counseling check list tool and links to additional information are available here.