Commercial Insurance Coverage for Telehealth in Florida

As of today Florida Blue (Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Florida) issued an update to providers that Amazing Kidz Therapy received, it states that Telehealth for PT, OT, and ST will be covered for services with an effective date of March 15th, 2020.  We are continuing to evaluate the full billing requirements and will be most comfortable when we see claims being paid, but this is good news just the same that commercial insurances are coming to the table so that families can continue to get services they need.

The Florida Blue update comes approximately 1 week after United Healthcares (pending claim payment to AKT) announcement that they would be covering Telehealth for PT, OT, and ST and approximatly 2 weeks after Tri-Care announced coverage (we have received payment on claims).

Amazing Kidz Therapy (AKT) launched a letter writing campaign (Template letter to write the Governor) approximately two weeks ago to do our part to personally write letters to our Florida Governor in addition to encouraging the families we serve, our friends, and our business acquaintances to send letters as well.

AKT is not the only grass-root effort urging our local government to bring Telehealth coverage to the table from our commercial insurance companies.

• 900 Healthcare workers write an open letter to Governor Desantis urging action and of the the demands for action, they included telehealth coverage by insurance companies.... 

• " The letter asks DeSantis to mandate that insurance providers waive cost-sharing for COVID-19 related medical procedures or treatment, as governors in New York and California have done, and to issue an executive order requiring insurance companies to cover telehealth services." Evans, Jack - March 27, 2020 - Tampa Bay Times

• https://www.tampabay.com/news/health/2020/03/27/850-florida-healthcare-workers-urge-gov-ron-desantis-act-now

• Florida Doctors Urge State Officials to Mandate Telehealth Payment Parity.

• "Florida’s largest medical association is taking the state to task for not mandating telehealth payment parity during the Coronavirus pandemic.
  In a letter to State Insurance Commissioner David Altmaier, Florida Medical Association President Ronald Giffler, MD, urged the state to require all payers in the state to reimburse providers for telehealth services at the same rate they pay for in-person services." Wicklund, Eric - March, 26 2020 mHealth Intelligence 

• https://mhealthintelligence.com/news/florida-doctors-urge-state-officials-to-mandate-telehealth-payment-parity

While this is amazing news, the fight is not over and we urge you to keep writing our governor and state officials to mandate Telehealth parity laws in Florida (treating Telehealth just the same as an in-person visit for coverage and payment). Approx 39 states today have parity laws in place, but even in that scenario not all cover PT,OT,ST services.

Thank you for your continued support and let's show the powerful insurance lobby that our voices can outweigh their efforts to create additional blockers to services our Florida families need.

by: Gino Pici, COO
Amazing Kidz Therapy