How providers document their telehealth technology may be ripe for a review in the wake of a report from the HHS Office of Inspector General (OIG) posted Aug. 2.^[1]

OIG audited end-stage renal disease (ESRD) telehealth services delivered during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic and found providers generally documented the telehealth part without elaborating. In other words, they didn’t specify that the telehealth modality was audiovisual.

During the public health emergency (PHE), CMS waived the Medicare requirement for the clinical examination of the dialysis access site to be performed in person, but it didn’t waive the requirement for use of an interactive telecommunications system, OIG said. “ESRD-related telehealth services during the PHE were still required to be provided using interactive audiovisual technology, not audio-only.”