CommercialAdministrativeHigh impact
Payment Policies for Telemedicine/Telephone Services for Commercial and Medicare Advantage Products effective January 1
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Rhode Island·RI · Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, Psychiatry·Provider Update
Effective date
Jan 1, 2021
We identified it
Jun 19, 2026
Summary
BCBSRI updated its telemedicine and telephone service payment policies effective January 1, 2021, replacing the temporary COVID-19 policy. Key changes include continuing 100% reimbursement of in-office rates, removing the CR modifier requirement for telemedicine claims, and implementing different cost-sharing rules for commercial vs Medicare Advantage plans.
Action Required
Immediately for dates of service January 1, 2021 and after: Billing team must stop appending CR modifier to ALL telemedicine claims. Continue using POS 02 with 95 modifier for real-time audio/video telemedicine services, and POS 02 without modifier for telephone-only services. Update billing system rules to reflect new modifier requirements and cost-sharing differences between commercial and Medicare Advantage plans.