Wiki Locum Tenens

[kookykk]

Does anyone have a good resource that gives some kind of answer as to how long you can use "Locum services" under a provider of a practice? I know each locum can only do 60 days (per most payer guidelines), but how many different locums can you have work under the one physician's information? I found an article on the website from 2017 that has the statement "A locum arrangement is not something done regularly, or on a long-term basis, as explained in Transmittal 3774. I pulled that CMS Transmittal information and there is nothing clear about this. (I have a physician that is no longer at the practice and hiring a new physician has taken longer than expected.) I am unsure if there is a limit on how long you can have a locum covering the patients and use that providers information when they are no longer at the practice. If anyone has helpful information or can lead me to a specific place where I can find this information I would appreciate it. Thank you.

 

[csperoni]

Pre-COVID, each Locum Tenens could cover 60 days (but could use them sequentially.) However, during the PHE, CMS is permitting LT to cover longer than 60 days each (up to 60 days after PHE ends).
Modification of 60-Day Limit for Substitute Billing Arrangements (Locum Tenens) page 35
CMS is modifying the 60-day limit in section 1842(b)(6)(D)(iii) of the Social Security Act to allow a physician or physical therapist to use the same substitute for the entire time he or she is unavailable to provide services during the COVID-19 emergency plus an additional period of no more than 60 continuous days after the public health emergency expires. On the 61st day after the public health emergency ends (or earlier if desired),the regular physician or physical therapist must use a different substitute or return to work in his or her practice for at least one day in order to reset the 60-day clock. Without this flexibility, the regular physician or physical therapist generally could not use a single substitute for a continuous period of longer than 60 days, and would instead be required to secure a series of substitutes to cover sequential 60-day periods. The modified timetable applies to both types of substitute billing arrangements under Medicare fee-for-service (i.e., reciprocal billing arrangements and fee-for-time compensation arrangements(formerly known as locum tenens))

I am not aware of any current or pre-COVID restrictions on a total time period.

 

[kookykk]

Thank you. I appreciate the response.