On December 21, 2024, Congress passed the American Relief Act, 2025 (“Continuing Resolution”), which was signed into law over the weekend. While the Continuing Resolution contains numerous health care-related provisions, several will be of particular interest to those following the virtual care payment policy closely. The telehealth-specific provisions will:
- Extend the pandemic-era Medicare telehealth flexibilities for three months, through March 31, 2025; and
- Extend the Medicare Acute Hospital-at-Home flexibilities for three months, through March 31, 2025.
Extension of Medicare Telehealth Coverage Flexibilities
Medicare telehealth flexibilities were originally adopted in response to the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (“PHE”). The flexibilities were initially extended in March 2022 for a period of 151 days following the end of the PHE and subsequently by the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023, extending the flexibilities through December 31, 2024. Congress has now extended the telehealth flexibilities for three additional months. As a result of the Continuing Resolution:
- Medicare beneficiaries will be able to continue accessing telehealth services in any geographic area in the United States, rather than only in rural areas.
- Medicare beneficiaries will be able to continue to access virtual care from their homes for telehealth visits that Medicare pays for rather than being required to travel to a health care facility.
- Certain Medicare telehealth visits can continue to be delivered using audio-only technology (such as a telephone) if the patient is unable to use both audio and video, such as a smartphone or computer.
Extension of Medicare Acute Hospital at Home Coverage
In response to the PHE, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services authorized the Acute Hospital Care At Home (“AHCAH”) program to cover more than 60 conditions, including asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, pneumonia and other conditions that can be safely managed in the patient’s home. The program was extended by the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023 through December 31, 2024. This waiver program will be extended for three months, through March 31, 2025.
Practical Takeaways
- Like the extension of the DEA controlled substances prescribing flexibilities announced last month, Congress’ extension of these key Medicare telehealth flexibilities should bring a welcome sigh of relief, albeit temporarily, for providers and patients bracing for the impending expiration of such flexibilities and the impact the resulting coverage limitations may have on care continuity.
- Congress, in a bipartisan and bicameral way, has acknowledged that “the genie is out of the bottle” for telehealth policy due to the utility and increase in access to care after the pandemic. Nevertheless, there is more work to do. Given the short-term nature of the extensions, Congress will need to work in the 119th Congress to explore further extensions and/or more permanent legislation addressing telehealth.
- It is critical that virtual care stakeholders continue to monitor legislative efforts (beginning in early 2025) to address Medicare coverage and reimbursement for telehealth services, as well as the DEA’s expected rules to address controlled substance prescriptions through telemedicine. These efforts may have a significant impact, one way or the other, on the provision of virtual care services.
If you have questions or would like additional information about virtual care, please contact:
- Chris Eades at (317) 977-1460 or ceades@hallrender.com;
- Regan Tankersley at (317) 977-1445 or rtankersley@hallrender.com;
- Mayo Alao at (317) 977-1480 or malao@hallrender.com;
- Abigail Kaericher at (202) 742-9674 or akaericher@hallrender.com; or
- Your primary Hall Render contact.
Hall Render blog posts and articles are intended for informational purposes only. For ethical reasons, Hall Render attorneys cannot—outside of an attorney-client relationship—answer specific questions that would be legal advice.
