COVID-19 Update: Treatment Cost-Share Waiver Extended

October 14, 2020

Note: See extension to the Interfacility Transfer end date.

We continue to monitor the COVID-19 pandemic and are committed to helping our employer customers and members stay informed. We have an update to the treatment cost-share waiver end date for:

• Fully insured groups
• ASO groups that have opted into coverage decisions

As always, members should call the number on their ID card for answers to their specific benefit questions.

Initiative	Effective Date	Projected End Date
COVID-19 Testing	3/7/20	Cost-share waiver ends with the end of the Health and Human Services (HHS) public health emergency
COVID-19 Testing-related Visits	3/18/20	Cost-share waiver ends with the end of HHS public health emergency
Telehealth/Telemedicine	3/18/20	Cost-share waiver ends 12/31/20 For Medicare (not Part D) and Medicare Supplement plans: Cost-share waiver ends 12/31/20
COVID-19 Treatment	4/1/20	Cost-share waiver extended through 12/31/20*
Interfacility Transfer	4/1/20	Extended to 11/30/20
Prior Authorization extended on previously approved elective surgeries, procedures, therapies and behavioral health services	Services scheduled between 1/1/20 and 6/30/20	12/31/20
Chest CT Scan	3/2/20	12/31/20

*Date change/extension

As we let you know in April, self-funded customers (ASO) who aligned with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas (BCBSTX) decisions for fully insured members would continue that alignment unless we were notified.

• BCBSTX will extend the cost-share waiver for telehealth through Dec. 31, 2020.

What this means for your ASO groups

An ASO account’s prior decision to waive cost-share for treatment will be extended through Dec. 31, 2020, unless the account makes a request to BCBSTX to end the cost-share waiver.

If your ASO clients would like to make a change from their original decision, please contact your account executive no later than Friday, Oct. 16. If you don’t communicate that change by Oct. 16, your client’s decision will continue as currently coded. Change decisions made after Oct. 16 cannot be accommodated for a Nov. 1 effective date.

COVID-19 Testing and the CARES Act

As a reminder, COVID-19 testing and testing-related visits are covered at no cost-share for fully insured and ASO members until the end of the federal public health emergency, as required by the Families First Coronavirus Response Act.