Page 203 State Telehealth Laws and Reimbursement Policies A Comprehensive Scan of the 50 States and District of Columbia

Center for Connected Health Policy

Facility Fee (see also Originating Site Fee) is a fee paid to the originating site to compensate
for the cost of facilitating a telemedicine visit.

Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) are federally designated facilities, which
provide primary care and other medical services to underserved populations.

Health Professional Shortage Area (HPSA) are designated by the Health Resources and
Services Administration as having shortages of primary medical care, dental or mental health
providers and may be geographic (a county or service area), demographic (low income
population) or institutional (comprehensive health center, federally qualified health center or
other public facility).

Hub Site (see also Distant Site or Consultant Site) is the site at which the provider delivering
a telehealth service is located.

Informed Consent refers to providers obtaining permission from a patient to perform a
specific test, procedure, or in the case of telehealth, service delivery method. Informed
consent means that the patient understands the relevant medical facts and risks involved.

Live Video Conferencing (see also Synchronous) refers to the use of two-way interactive
audio-video technology to connect users, in real time.

Medicaid is a program that provides medical coverage for people with lower incomes, older
people, people with disabilities, and some families and children. Learn more about the
program in this section.provides medical coverage and long-term medical care to low-income
residents. Medicaid is jointly funded by the federal government and individual states, and is
administered by the states.

Medicaid Provider Manual is a document released by each state’s Medicaid agency, which
serves as the reference document for its Medicaid program.

Medically Underserved Area (MUA) may be a whole county or a group of contiguous
counties, a group of county or civil divisions or a group of urban census tracts in which
residents have a shortage of personal health services.

Medicare is a health insurance for people age 65 or older, people under 65 with certain
disabilities, and people of all ages with End-Stage Renal Disease. (ESRD is permanent
kidney failure requiring dialysis or a kidney transplant.)

Modifier is a two-digit code that is added to medical procedure codes, to provide additional
information about the billed procedure. In some cases, addition of a modifier can directly
affect payment.

Modifier GQ is the modifier for store and forward technologies.

Modifier GT is the modifier for live video conferencing.

Originating Site (see also Spoke Site or Referring Site) is the location of the patient receiving
a telehealth service.

Originating Site Fee (see also Facility Fee) is a fee paid to the originating site to compensate
for the cost of facilitating a telemedicine visit.

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