At this point, we all are aware of the coronavirus pandemic. States and communities nationwide are shutting down, only allowing essential businesses to operate for the foreseeable future. But, as dental professionals, you know that emergency dental care still is needed, pandemic or not. In efforts to practice social distancing, and continue keeping your employees and any patients that do enter your office safe, teledentistry is a way to connect with patients and triage them for care. Find out acceptable ways that your dental practice can use teledentistry, and ways that you shouldn’t.
Teledentistry is specifically designed for dental practices and works the same way as telehealth, which has been around for years. But, until recently, teledentistry was not widely used due to HIPPA constraints. However, due to recent events of the COVID19 outbreak, the government now allows the use of telehealth across all medical providers. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) says they will waive HIPPA penalties so long as the physician utilizes telehealth in good faith, according to Alex Azar, HHS Secretary.
While most dentists probably do not have the usually recommended technology for telehealth, you are now allowed to use something as simple as a telephone or tablet to provide telemedicine to your patients. However, you still must provide an environment of privacy and use non-public facing platforms, which means that communication is meant only for the intended parties. HHS has provided specific examples of acceptable modalities for teledentistry.
Acceptable teledentistry platforms include:
- Smartphones (voice or text)
- FaceTime
- Skype
- Facebook Messenger video chat
- Google Hangouts video
- Zoom
These platforms allow for end-to-end encryption, which means that only the person intended to receive the message can access it. And, the individual’s login credentials, password, and passcode protections protect these accounts.
Unacceptable teledentistry platforms include:
- Facebook Live
- TikTok
- Chat rooms
- Slack
It should also be noted that teledentistry services should be provided in private and that patients should not receive services without their consent, or in public or semi-public areas.
How to bill for teledentistry services
This is a common question among dental providers and billing specialists.
For teledentistry, there are two main codes that you can use.
- D9995 Teledentistry- synchronous; real-time encounter
- D9996 Teledentistry- asynchronous; information stored and forwarded to the dentist for subsequent review
When submitting claims for teledentistry, the place of service (POS) should be reported as 02. Most dental software defaults to POS of 11, which is in-office, so be sure to check that the code reflects 02 POS. It is also important to note that you need to provide accurate clinical documentation to support the patient’s emergent necessity.
Some points to remember include:
- Document how the interaction took place. Some insurance providers may only provide reimbursement for teledentistry services that were “live,” such as during a video chat or phone call. In other words, don’t just text a patient.
- Document the reason for the interaction and the patient’s diagnosis and condition. You must establish an emergent need for teledentistry.
- If patient submits photos to assist with their diagnosis, be sure to store these in a secure location and add to their permanent patient record for reference.
It is also important to note that the timeline for seeking reimbursement for teledentistry services may vary. We encourage you to visit the American Dental Association’s website frequently to receive up-to-date information regarding any changes to billing for teledentistry. For more information regarding the HHS’s acceptable use of teledentistry, or how to implement this option in your practice, please contact Bryant Consultants by calling (877) 768-4799. We provide consultation, training, and coaching to help improve the operations of your practice so that you can provide exceptional service to your patients. We encourage you to follow us on Facebook and Instagram to receive immediate updates regarding coronavirus pandemic.
