The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services recently released a fact sheet on what to expect as the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (PHE) winds down. Currently, the PHE is scheduled to end on May 11, 2023.

Why it matters: At the beginning of the PHE, CMS provided flexibilities so providers could respond to the impact of the pandemic, and some of those flexibilities will expire after the PHE ends.

Early in the PHE, CMS temporarily changed the definition of “direct supervision” to include the virtual presence of the supervising clinician through the use of real-time audio and video technology. This flexibility will expire at the end of 2023, but several of the telehealth flexibilities will run through the end of 2024. However, CMS will discontinue the telehealth flexibilities for the OTV portion of 77427 at the end of 2023. This flexibility was provided recognizing that practices needed flexibility to ensure that both care teams and patients were protected from the virus, but this became less necessary as practices implemented policies to address COVID-19 transmission concerns.

Go deeper with more details from CMS.