Blaine Greenwald

Articles

Telehealth, COVID-19: CDC, FDA and CMS Guidance, COVID-19: Telehealth and Virtual Care, Access to Behavioral Health

Blog: CMS should re-think its post-COVID-19 coverage strategy for tele-psychiatry services

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services should reconsider its decision to discontinue coverage of tele-audio services when the COVID-19 public health emergency ends, writes Blaine Greenwald, M.D., vice chair and director of geriatric psychiatry in the department of psychiatry at Zucker Hillside Hospital, Northwell Health's behavioral health center. Greenwald notes that a significant proportion of older adults without access to tele-video services are instead relying on tele-audio during the COVID-19 pandemic for their psychiatric appointments. As we mark May as Mental Health Awareness Month, read more about why hospital outpatient departments must mobilize to overcome tele-video capability disparities and why reimbursement for some post-PHE audio-only services should be reconsidered to protect the mental health of older Americans.