Telehealth

Flexibilities for Medicare telehealth coverage are back in place after Congress passed legislation to end the longest government shutdown in U.S. history this week.  

The stopgap funding law, which was signed by President Donald Trump late Wednesday, reinstates the pandemic-era virtual care policies through Jan. 30. Those policies include changes like eliminating geographic restrictions for virtual care and allowing all eligible Medicare providers to offer telehealth.

Additionally, the spending plan reauthorizes the CMS’ Acute Hospital Care at Home program — another initiative started during the pandemic that permits hundreds of hospitals across the country to provide inpatient level care in patients’ homes — through Jan. 30. 

The spending law comes after telehealth providers were left in limbo for six weeks during the government shutdown, forced to either continue offering virtual care to Medicare beneficiaries without clarity on reimbursement or shutter their programs.

And though the legislation allows for retroactive payment for telehealth services offered since the shutdown began in October, the “clock is ticking” before the flexibilities could expire again, said Kyle Zebley, senior vice president of public policy at the American Telemedicine Association and executive director of the group’s advocacy arm ATA Action, in a statement Thursday.

Telehealth groups argued the healthcare sector needs certainty on virtual care coverage in Medicare.

“Short term, and even year-to-year, extensions are no longer sustainable for a care model that is now central to how America delivers health care,” Chris Adamec, executive director of the Alliance for Connected Care, said in a statement. “Telehealth is an integrated part of care delivery, and the current system needs to reflect that.”

Providers, telehealth advocates push for long-term solution

The telehealth flexibilities were first put in place during the pandemic to preserve access to care amid social distancing. The policies significantly expanded telehealth in Medicare, where coverage was previously mostly restricted to beneficiaries living in rural areas or for certain types of facilities or services.

Though the flexibilities are popular with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, they’ve recently been caught up in funding fights between Democrats and Republicans on the Hill.