Blue Cross and BCN take action to support providers and protect members during COVID‑19 pandemic

Days before the first Michigan cases of COVID‑19 were reported, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan and Blue Care Network began taking action to support providers and protect members. Here are some of the temporary actions we’ve taken:

• Waived authorization requirements and member cost sharing for diagnostic lab testing for COVID‑19
• Waived member copayments, deductibles and coinsurance for COVID-19 treatment
• Changed clinical review to plan notification for admissions to all Michigan acute care hospitals for all diagnoses and for the first three days of all skilled nursing facility transfers from acute care
• Expanded laboratory testing for COVID-19 to any laboratory provider in Michigan, regardless of network status
• Added influenza testing to physician in-office laboratory testing to rule out flu
• Waived early refill limits on 30-day prescription maintenance medications with the exception of opioids
• Facilitated the use of telehealth by revising our policies and creating an incentive for offices to participate in telehealth
• Granted a 90-day extension to claim submission time limits for original claims with submission dates of Jan. 1, 2020, and after until further notice

Expanded use of telehealth

The COVID-19 pandemic brought a spotlight to telehealth as a method to safely provide medical care to patients who aren’t able to come in for a face-to-face office visit. Blue Cross and BCN have focused efforts on making telehealth easier for both our providers and our members. We have done this by:

• Removing the BCN originating site requirement for telehealth
• Waiving member cost sharing for telehealth services through at least June 30, 2020, on the most common medical office visits, hospitalization follow-up visits and common behavioral health therapy (see Telehealth procedure codes for COVID‑19)
• Announcing that all Blue Cross and BCN members — including all self-funded groups — now have coverage for telemedicine services (those offered by our network providers). Most, but not all, members also have access to Blue Cross Online Visits^SM (operated by Amwell).
• Expanding no-cost telehealth services to now include common behavioral health therapy for members with our behavioral health benefits
• Temporarily relaxing HIPAA requirements to allow for alternative channels, such as Skype and Apple FaceTime
• Expanding access to our 24-hour nurse hotline for members
• Creating telehealth guides to help providers begin using telehealth
• Introducing incentives through Blue Cross’ Physician Group Incentive Program to encourage physician offices to use telehealth, when applicable

If your office is not yet using telehealth, take a few minutes to learn how easy it can be to add a telehealth option. We have two guides that explain telehealth:

• Telehealth for medical providers
• Telehealth for behavioral health providers

There’s also an eLearning available on our Coronavirus webpage.

Find more information

To find our telehealth guides and the latest developments on the COVID-19 pandemic, go to our Coronavirus (COVID-19) information updates for providers webpage, which is linked from BCBSM Newsletters and Resources as well as BCN Provider Publications and Resources within our secure provider website at bcbsm.com.

While the most comprehensive list of communications is available within our secure provider website, we also have a public webpage for providers who don’t have a login and password to our website and for out-of-state providers. This website is available at bcbsm.com/coronavirus. Click on For Providers.