Telehealth for Supportive Housing Providers

Guidance for Providers Looking to Adapt and Consider Billing for Themselves

Some supportive housing providers are already billing Medicaid, while others are considering shifting services to Medicaid billing options. In both scenarios, the supportive housing field needs to consider both how to offer tenancy support services in a manner that considers our current public health emergency, as well as connecting their tenants to health care services that may be transitioning to more telehealth and telemedicine options. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS), due to the national emergency and the public health emergency has granted states great flexibility in implementing, billing and maintaining telehealth options. COVID-19 has made connecting residents, especially vulnerable residents to telehealth even more important.

The challenges and rewards of billing Medicaid for services remain and telehealth is no different. As for other services, providers will still need an electronic health record, adhere to state administrative regulations around staffing, develop contracts with managed care organizations or the state, and develop budgets based upon projected billable revenue.

This brief provides definitions and resources to help supportive housing providers and Health Centers build their capacity and knowledge on how to speak the same language, collaborate effectively and leverage telehealth resources to support their service participants. Please refer to Telehealth Basics for guidance on residents and technology options. Each state will have its own regulations and guidance around telehealth and each provider will need to understand and follow state guidance.

This is part of a series of factsheets for Health Centers. You might also consider downloading:


This resource is supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of an award totaling $450,000 with 0% of the total NCA project financed with non-governmental sources. The contents are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement, by HRSA, HHS or the U.S. Government. For more information, please visit HRSA.gov

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