CMS Announces Update to the State Medicaid & CHIP Telehealth Toolkit

Last week the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced it was releasing a supplement to its toolkit “State Medicaid & CHIP Telehealth Toolkit: Policy Considerations for States Expanding Use of Telehealth, COVID-19 Version,” which was initially published on April 23, 2020. The original toolkit was meant to assist states in expanding the use of telehealth services in response to the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (PHE).

The new supplement will provide support state Medicaid agencies for their adoption and implementation of telehealth services. The supplement provides updates to the toolkit’s Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) and focuses on terminology, communication strategies, telehealth operations and implementation tools, and shared experiences and examples from states and territories across the nation. The update clarifies that states may deliver covered services via audio-only telehealth during and post declaration of the PHE.