Telehealth Terms

Distant or Hub site: Site where the physician or other practitioner delivering the service is located at the time the service is provided via telecommunications system.

Originating or Spoke site: Location of the Medicaid patient at the time the service being furnished via a telecommunications system occurs. Telepresenters may be needed to facilitate the delivery of this service.

Asynchronous or "Store and Forward": Communications involve contact between two parties (patient-to-provider or provider-to-provider) in a way that does not require real-time interaction. For example, a patient sends a message to a provider, who reads the message later and replies. However, these communications could be a narrative (text-based) description, an image, a video recording, an audio recording, or responses to a survey, among other items. In most cases, the electronic system functioning as the conduit of the information should be a HIPAA compliant technology that supports encrypted communication from one party to another.

Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM): Although RPM could take many forms, it typically involves the deployment and use of technology to capture biometric information about the patient that is automatically shared with a remote provider. The provider can then review the data and determine the appropriate course of action. RPM typically involves the use of “peripheral devices” that are designed to capture patient biometric information such as weight, blood pressure, blood oxygen levels, etc.

Medical Codes: States may select from a variety of HCPCS codes (for example T1014 and Q3014), CPT codes and modifiers (for example, GT, U1-UD) in order to identify, track and reimburse for services delivered via telehealth.