Tricare No Longer Covers TENS Treatment:
Effective June 1, 2020, Tricare will no longer cover TENS treatment for beneficiaries for acute, sub-acute and chronic low back pain. Dry needling also remains a non-covered benefit when it is the sole purpose for the visit.
Telehealth Updates:
Humana will now cover telehealth for outpatient physical, occupational and speech therapy and will follow CMS guidelines and/or state specific guidelines where applicable.
Aetna Extendeds Telehealth Coverage: Due to COVID-19, Aetna has announced that they will cover outpatient physical, occupational, and speech therapy via telehealth until August 4, 2020.
United HealthCare also extended their outpatient physical, occupational and speech therapy coverage for telehealth until September 30, 2020 for their Medicare Advantage plans and until July 24, 2020 for Individual and fully insured Group Market health plans. UHC Community Medicaid plans remain unter state-specific regulations
Paycheck Protection Program Flexibility Act of 2020 (H.R. 7010)
This was signed into law on June 5th. It will:
Allow forgiveness for expenses beyond the 8-week covered period to 24 weeks;
Increase the current limitation on non-payroll expenses (such as rent, utility payments and mortgage interest) for loan forgiveness from 25 to 40 percent (in other words, the eligible recipient is required to use at least 60% of the loan amount for payroll costs, down from 75%);
Extend the program from June 30 to December 31;
Extend loan terms from two to five years;
Ensure access to payroll tax deferment for businesses that take PPP loans.