Mississippi insurers agree to commissioner’s plea to continue telemedicine coverage when state of emergency ends
Telehealth grew in use in Mississippi during the state of emergency related to the pandemic with insurers covering telehealth visits at the same rate as in-person visits. With the emergency declaration set to end Nov. 20. 2021, state Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney is urging insurance companies to continue the coverage. Shutterstock
By Julie Whitehead
Mississippi Center for Investigative Reporting
Mississippi Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney has secured crucial support from Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Mississippi, the largest health insurer in the state, to continue covering telehealth visits at the same rate as in-person visits.
Telehealth, also called telemedicine, includes consulting with a health professional online or over the phone.
Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney. Official portrait
On Monday, Chaney’s office issued a bulletin alerting health insurers in the state that Gov. Tate Reeves’ decision to end Mississippi’s state of emergency on Nov. 20 means the Insurance Department will be withdrawing the emergency authorization of insurance coverage of telemedicine during the COVID-19 pandemic. He appealed to the insurance companies to continue the coverage until the Legislature can resolve the issue.
Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Mississippi on Tuesday became one of the companies responding positively to Chaney’s appeal. In a statement to Chaney’s office, BCBS general counsel Cheri D. Green said, “Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Mississippi had previously determined to continue its approved Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic Telemedicine Policy after the Governor’s declared state of emergency expired.”
Vantage Health also has agreed to continue coverage.
While the widespread use of telehealth came to Mississippi on an emergency basis because of the pandemic, state leaders have made a case for health insurance companies to continue covering it because of cost savings, ease of service, and better access to specialists that came about in healthcare arena.
Telehealth made its debut in Mississippi in 2016, when the University of Mississippi Medical Center pioneered the concept to provide services to much of the state’s rural population. But much of the use, particularly in mental health coverage, came after the Mississippi Insurance Department, the Mississippi Department of Human Services and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid had come together to issue emergency rules that allowed health practitioners to be paid for both video- and audio-based services at the same rate as in-person visits.
“The use of telemedicine during the pandemic has been an outstanding and effective method of providing consistent healthcare to Mississippians and has shielded many from unnecessary exposure to the coronavirus,” Chaney noted in his newly issued bulletin. “Many elderly or rural residents have received consultations with their medical providers by the use of phones or computers. People in need of mental health services have received immediate, thorough and consistent treatment, especially children and teenagers who have needed these types of services. The benefits of telemedicine are too great to be ignored or discontinued.”
Julie Seawright of Tupelo says that having telehealth access paid for by her children’s insurance during the first of the pandemic was wonderful. “During the pandemic, we used telehealth for our Advanced Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner visit with RightTrack in Tupelo, Amy Thomas.”
Seawright says she and her two sons have attention deficit hyperactive disorder and that she also has depression, anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Tupelo resident Julie Seawright has been able to use telehealth to meet the mental health needs of her two sons and herself. Bruce Newman/MCIR
Her children no longer had to miss school for their ADHD appointments, Seawright said. “I really enjoyed being able to transition from doing online school with the boys to them not technically leaving school. They were able to pause their work and pop on screen to have their visit with her.”
Seawright was able to receive therapy for her depression after her boys were treated. Not having to leave the house for therapy was convenient for other reasons as well. It made going to therapy less stressful. Her favorite part of telehealth, Seawright says, was “not having to find shoes for every visit for two growing boys!”
Dr. Finn Perkins, psychiatrist at the Mississippi State Hospital in Whitfield, noted the numbers on telehealth in testimony before a joint meeting of the House and Senate Insurance committees in late September. Perkins, testifying in his role as Mississippi Psychiatric Association public affairs chairman, noted that telehealth resulted in treatment of this vulnerable population at a much higher rate than was true pre-pandemic.
“Our members have quickly adapted to telemedicine. They note that no-show rates have significantly decreased, with patients no longer having to leave their homes or consider travel to access care — some even report a no-show rate of 0 percent,” Perkins said. “These changes have also allowed many clinics and practices to stay open when they may otherwise have been forced to close.”
State Employee Health Insurance Plan administrator Dr. Cindy Bradshaw of the Department of Finance and Administration said the rate of participation in mental illness-related telehealth services totaled 34,000 visits for behavioral health and 17,000 psychiatric encounters.
Those numbers refer to patients seen in telehealth during the pandemic, according to Marcy Scoggins, communications director for DFA. All in all, Bradshaw noted to legislators in her testimony before the committee that the plan had saved around $700,000 by using telehealth for a wide array of services. Scoggins confirmed this sum was a total savings since the advent of telehealth in Mississippi in 2016.
Chaney noted his bulletin did not apply to the state employee plan but that the board governing the state employee health plan (of which he is a member) had bypassed BCBS in its role as a third-party administrator to offer telemedicine to its members in the first place.
The insurance committees in the House and Senate let bills die last session that would have codified the role of telemedicine in the state of Mississippi. Republican Sen. Nichole Boyd of Oxford said both chambers passed separate telehealth bills and could not come to an agreement on the bills’ language.
“The bill broke down last year because some of what the House offered to us in the Senate would have limited Medicaid.” Boyd said.
The late September joint hearing listened to testimony on these issues from a variety of interested groups.
Perkins noted that passing legislation to make telemedicine an option for all patients in the state would serve the state’s mentally ill population particularly well. “MPA asks that you support continued access to telemedicine services by codifying many of these temporary changes,” Perkins said.
“Without telehealth coverage and payment parity for Medicaid and commercial insurance Mississippi health plans can reimburse providers at unsustainably low rates or choose not to cover services at all, stifling flexible access and investments in virtual technologies that have been rapidly adopted and accepted this year,” Perkins said.
This story was produced by the Mississippi Center for Investigative Reporting, a nonprofit news organization that seeks to inform, educate and empower Mississippians in their communities through the use of investigative journalism. Sign up for our newsletter. Email Julie Whitehead at julie.whitehead.mcir@gmail.com.