Here’s when to bill for an originating site facility fee

Providers have expressed some confusion about when and how to bill for the telehealth originating site facility fee (HCPCS code Q3014).

Providers should only bill the originating site facility fee when telehealth technology is used to connect the patient to a provider at a distant location. If the patient is in the same location of the provider who is rendering a professional service, the originating site code isn’t required and, therefore, is not payable.

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan follows the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services originating site requirements and allows for reimbursement when the patient is in the following locations:

• Physician or practitioner’s office
• Outpatient hospital
• Critical access hospital, or CAH
• Rural health clinic
• Federally qualified health center
• Community mental health center
• Skilled nursing facility
• Hospital-based or CAH-based renal dialysis center

The originating site facility fee isn’t considered an actual service provided. Rather, the fee is for the use of the telehealth technology at one of the above-named locations. The technology provides a service for a patient receiving service from a provider at a distant location.