NY Hep C Telemedicine Workgroup Meeting Notes | 11-19-2020

NY Hep C Telemedicine Workgroup – Meeting Notes

Thursday, November 19, 2020  (10-11AM EST) via webinar:

In attendance at this meeting: See below notes

Next Meeting: Thursday, December 17 – 10:00AM

Workgroup Chair: Andrew Talal, MD, University at Buffalo, ahtalal@buffalo.edu

Workgroup goals: Short term: Identify, assess, document and disseminate current strategies and opportunities to provide hepatitis C treatment in substance use treatment facilities, via telemedicine. Long-term: Develop a NYS Telehealth network to provide a forum for ongoing learning and sharing of best practices to promote hepatitis B and C care and treatment through telehealth.

Meeting Notes

• Andrew Talal, MD, University at Buffalo, ahtalal@buffalo.edu and
• Nirah Johnson, NYC Health Department, njohnso2@health.nyc.gov

Policy Updates

Telemedicine Policy Updates
Katy Cook – kcook@ahihealth.org

• CMS has finalized their Calendar Year 2021 Physician Fee Schedule. The 2021 PFS finalizes the addition of certain select codes that are on the Medicare telehealth list as a result of the COVID-19 PHE on a permanent basis, and adds others provisionally through the end of the year in which the PHE ends. Please visit the CMS.gov Newsroom article linked here for detailed information on these updates.

• Providers can request telemedicine implementation technical assistance from the following organizations:

• • • Adirondack Health Institute
    • Northeast Telehealth Resource Center
    • NYC REACH

Telemedicine Implementation Presentation
Abigail Hunter, MPH, MSN, FNP-BC – abigail@vocal-ny.org

• See the full presentation attached.

Workgroup Project Updates

• Recommendations to Support Expansion of Hepatitis C Treatment in Opioid Treatment Programs in NYS – Letter was sent to OASAS. Medicaid and Governor with 54 signatories
• Study of providers implementing telemedicine during COVID-19. For information or to support this initiative, contact Pruthi Patel, MD pruthvi.patel@mountsinai.org
• Implementation Guide for Hep C Treatment via Telemedicine at Substance Use Treatment Programs – published by NASTAD.

Training and Meeting

• Telehealth for Community-Based Organizations Webinar Series. CMS.
• [http://]Physician Fee Schedule Final Rule: Understanding 4 Key Topics – December 10, 2020 1:30pm-3:00pm ET

Resources

• Hep Free NYC Telehealth Resources webpage
• NYC REACH a telehealth technical assistance Resources

• • Telehealth Billing and coding tip sheet
  • Telehealth Coding Payment Tracker to keep track of all changing requirements and reimbursements across insurance plans
  • Telehealth Vendor Options for a list of the key functionalities of the various telemedicine products as reported by the vendors
  • CMS’ guidance on telehealth visits when calculating their Meaningful Use performance and Medicaid patient volume

Attendance

1. Abigail Hunter, Vocal-NY, abbynhunter@gmail.com
2. Andrew Reynolds, Viral Hepatitis Community Partner, areynoldshcv@gmail.com
3. Andrew Talal, Research Foundation of SUNY, ahtalal@buffalo.edu
4. Angelica Ramirez, Mount Sinai Health System, angelica.ramirez@mountsinai.org
5. April Bennett, AbbVie, april.bennett@abbvie.com
6. Arpan Dharia, State University of New York (SUNY), adharia@buffalo.edu
7. Chris Cruz, AbbVie, chriscruz@abbvie.com
8. Colleen Flanigan, NYSDOH AIDS Institute, colleen.flanigan@health.ny.gov
9. Dan Shappee, AbbVie, daniel.shappee@abbvie.com
10. Darlene Meyer, State University of New York (SUNY), dkmeyer@buffalo.edu
11. Debra Farron, Gilead Science, debra.farron@gilead.com
12. Frank Winter, Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services, frank.winter@cms.hhs.gov
13. Jeff Weiss, REACH, jeffrey.weiss@mountsinai.org
14. Joy Cambe, Empire Liver Foundation, joycambe@empireliverfoundation.org
15. Justine Waldman, Reach Medical, jwaldman@reachmed.org
16. Kathleen Davis, University of Rochester Medical Center, kathleen_davis@urmc.rochester.edu
17. Katy Cook, Adirondack Health Institute, kcook@ahihealth.org
18. Marc Badura, Research Foundation of SUNY, mbadura@buffalo.edu
19. Marie Bresnahan, NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, mbresnahan@health.nyc.gov
20. Meg Chappell, Empire Liver Foundation, megchappell@empireliverfoundation.org
21. Nadine Kela-Murphy, NYC NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, nkelamurphy@health.nyc.gov
22. Nirah Johnson, NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, njohnso2@health.nyc.gov
23. Pantelis Antoniou, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/CUMC, paa9093@nyp.org
24. Pruthvi Patel, Empire Liver Foundation, pruthvi.patel@mountsinai.org
25. Rachel Picone, Berkshire Health Systems, rpicone@bhs1.org
26. Sandeep Krishnan, MedTech International Group, sandeep.krishnan@medtecintl.com