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CMS-1403-FC
cardiac evaluations.” In another study submitted, the
patients selected were not randomized.
Comment: A few commenters supported our proposal not
to add critical care services to the list of Medicare
approved telehealth services. The commenters believe that,
within the current standards of practice, critical care
services require the physical presence of the physician
rendering the critical care services.
We received approximately 20 comments expressing
opposition to our proposal not to add critical care
services to the list of Medicare approved telehealth
services which distinguished between their use of
telehealth for critical care services and the use of
telehealth for remote stroke assessments, as described in
the original request. Many of the commenters characterized
our proposal as a “non-coverage determination” of remote
critical care services and described an intensive care unit
(ICU) model that integrates continuous surveillance of the
ICU with an electronic medical records interface. This
model is also programmed to automatically prompt the
physician to rapidly respond and intervene in the event of
certain changes in a patient’s physiological status. Many
of these commenters included documentation and references
to studies that the adoption of this model reduced medical
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