Telemedicine

Expanded Roles and Duties for Medical Assistants during the COVID-19 Era

Catherine Short speaks with Donald A. Balasa, JD, MBA, CEO and Legal Counsel of the American Association of Medical Assistants (AAMA), on the topic of “Expanded Roles and Duties for Medical Assistants during the COVID-19 Era.” The medical assisting profession has risen to the occasion as we have been dealing with the most serious health crisis in the last 100 years.  Medical assistants have been asked by public health officials, managers of health systems, and licensed providers to assume expanded roles and perform tasks beyond their normal scope of work.  Because of the breadth of their education and training, medical assistants have been able to adapt quickly to these new responsibilities.  They have been called upon to work in nontraditional settings under the authority and supervision of a dedicated array of clinicians and administrators with whom they had not previously practiced. During this episode, we will discuss the laws that establish the scope of practice for medical assistants, and to delineate the expanded tasks that may be delegated under these laws.

Billing for Chronic Care Management: What Are the Problematic Issues?

Catherine Short speaks with Markus P. Cicka, J.D., LL.M. (Health Law), owner of the Law Office of Markus P. Cicka, LLC, a law firm based in Saint Louis, Missouri, about the topic of “Billing for Chronic Care Management: What Are the Problematic Issues?” We will discuss what is chronic care management, have an understanding of who exactly can bill for providing chronic care management services, and discover what are recent chronic care management billing issues that have been flagged by the OIG.