Medicare has temporarily expanded its coverage of telehealth services to respond to COVID-19.
Medicare beneficiaries can temporarily use telehealth services for common office visits, mental health counseling and preventive health screenings. This will help ensure Medicare beneficiaries are able to visit with their doctor from their residence, without having to go to a doctor’s office or hospital, which puts themselves and others at risk.
If you have an existing healthcare appointment, or think you need to see your doctor, call them first to see if the appointment can be conducted over a smartphone with video capability or any device using video technology, like a tablet or a laptop. For some appointments, a simple check-in over the phone without video capabilities may suffice.