Please remember to let patients know when you will be billing a phone call as an office visit. Billing for a call as an office visit may result a patient owing a cost share, so it is important for patients to understand the situation.
As stated in our Temporary Corporate Payment Policy 24 (Telephone Only Services), the clinician is responsible for:
Obtaining verbal or written consent from the patient (or his/her representative) for the use of the telephone to conduct an "office visit";
Documenting the patient's consent in the medical record;
Advising the patient when a call converts to an "office visit" that will be billed to BCBSVT; and
Respecting when a patient requests a phone call remain just a call and not be documented or billed as an office visit.
The policies are available in a link in the What's New area, on the Provider Resource Center (secure provider site), or by contacting the provider relations team by email at providerrelations@bcbsvt.com or phone at (888) 449-0443, option 1.
