COVID-19
Care Center

Telephone (audio only) visits can be scheduled in CareLink as “Telephone Visit” and billed using the G2012 “virtual check-in” code. Verbal consent for telephone “virtual check in” visits is required to be documented in the visit note (for each visit).

“Telehealth” visits use synchronous, two-way, audio-video telecommunications. Telehealth visits can be scheduled in CareLink as “Telehealth.”

Queen’s Employed Physicians

For the departments of Neuroscience, Cardiology, and Pulmonary, use Cisco ExtendedCare integrated into Epic CareLink MyChart For other departments, use Cisco WebEx Meetings. Queen’s has purchased HIPAA-compliant WebEx Meetings licenses for our providers.

Queen’s-affiliated providers may use our Cisco WebEx Meetings licenses. Please sign up for a queens.org email address and a WebEx Meetings account.

Non Queen’s-affiliated physicians can use a variety of HIPAA-compliant telehealth platforms, such as Doxy.me and Zoom. These platforms are easy to launch for solo providers and small practices.

An encrypted, HIPAA-compliant telehealth platform is still recommended for telehealth visits to the patient’s home.

However, during the federal emergency, the federal government will not be enforcing HIPAA requirements for telehealth so providers are allowed to use a non-HIPAA compliant platform (like Skype, Google Hangout, or FaceTime) as a last resort.

For Queen’s-affiliated and QCIPN providers who already have a queens.org email address and who want to use our Cisco WebEx Meetings licenses, please have your manager go to the ServiceNow portal here and submit the “Request for QHS WebEx Host Account“.

For QCIPN providers who do not have a queens.org email address and who want to use our Cisco WebEx Meetings licenses, fill out the Request a WebEx Account from QHS smart sheet. QCIPN and Queen’s IT will then help you sign up for a queens.org email address and a WebEx Meetings account.

There is no legal requirement to have specific written informed consent from the patient to have a telehealth visit.

Documentation for telehealth visits is similar to in-person documentation plus a statement that the visit was completed using “synchronous, two-way, audio-video telecommunications”, “originating site” is the patient location, and “distant site” is the provider location.

Billing for telehealth visits uses standard E&M codes for office visits (time- or complexity-based) plus a specific modifier (95 for most payers) and place of service (POS) code (02).

In Hawai’i, all private payers and Medicaid plans are already required to reimburse for telehealth visits to the patients home, equivalent to in-person visits (based on state law).

Medicare part B has strict “originating site” requirements that have prohibited reimbursement for telehealth to the patient’s home – these requirements are now waived during the federal emergency. This means that Medicare (and all other payers in Hawaiʻi) will currently pay equivalently for telehealth visits to the patient’s home.

During the federal emergency, CMS will allow new patient evaluations to be done by telehealth (not limited to established patients). This is already allowed in Hawaiʻi for private payers and Medicaid.