DHS working to expand Medicaid telehealth in response to COVID-19

The Department of Health Services is working to expand telehealth in the Medicaid program in response to the COVID-19 outbreak.

DHS Secretary-designee Andrea Palm said Friday that the agency is moving to implement pieces of a bipartisan telehealth bill approved by Gov. Tony Evers last fall, which provides the agency “quite a bit of authority in this space.” That includes the ability to receive telehealth services at home.

“In the next couple of days, we will be doing some more work specifically related to access to behavioral health through telehealth services,” she told reporters.

The agency is also looking at all of its “flexibilities,” including those granted by the legislation as well as those granted by President Donald Trump’s declaration of the emergency, Palm said.

“Those include the opportunity not only to think about it flexibly but to also actually provide some reimbursement for additional service, which we obviously want to incent people to use as they stay at home to avoid all unnecessary appointments and travel,” she said.

The declaration allows for states to apply for an 1135 waiver and waive certain Medicaid provisions.

Last week, behavioral health groups, practitioners and others led by NAMI Dane County asked DHS for an emergency waiver to current rules and policies that restrict Medicaid reimbursement for telehealth and additional money to implement the services.

The letter also asked that Comprehensive Community Services, a Medicaid program that provides community supports to those with mental health needs, expand funding to include telehealth services.

“This is an unprecedented event, and we believe the state must take this bold action in order to save lives and maintain an emotionally healthy community,” the letter noted.

They said that the pandemic will lead to higher levels of anxiety, isolation and trauma as Wisconsinites deal with social distancing, closed schools and unemployment.

Many won’t seek in-person care due to their concerns about the virus, and in-person treatment could put mental health workers at a much higher risk of contracting the virus too, they wrote.

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