Telehealth visits, including annual wellness visits, available to Medicare Advantage patients

We encourage health care professionals to remind their Medicare Advantage patients that they can use telehealth services for appointments with their health care providers.

Remember that for all telehealth visits, the documentation in the office note must include the following information:

• Type of telehealth contact (for example, visual, audio, email or portal)
• Type of video service (for example, Skype, Zoom or BlueJeans)
• Location of patient and provider
• Patient-informed consent documented (in other words, he or she understands and accepts the privacy and security risks of telehealth medicine)

The following may also be documented for telehealth, telephone, e-visits and virtual check-ins:

• Patient self-reported blood pressure readings from any digital device
• Advanced illness and frailty exclusions

Keep in mind that Medicare Advantage patients can complete their free annual wellness visit in one of the following ways:

• A traditional face-to-face visit in your office
• An online telehealth visit using a smartphone, computer or tablet with audio and video capability
• A telephone-only visit for patients who don’t have video capability

The procedure codes are:

• G0402: Welcome to Medicare visit
• G0438: Annual wellness visit, initial
• G0439: Annual wellness visit, subsequent

For more information, view the Controlling Blood Pressure tip sheet and the Advanced Illness and Frailty Exclusions Guide.