5 hours Ago By Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP
As 2024 comes to a close, the telehealth space continues to be uncharted territory. When the COVID-19 pandemic began, the ability to deliver telehealth expanded as providers sought to provide quality care unrestricted by physical, in-person requirements. Now, the issue has shifted to the other side of the telemedicine coin: Following this rapid expansion, facilitated by a plethora of telemedicine flexibilities set forth in state and federal law, is Congress ready to pass laws that make these flexibilities permanent? Without any congressional action, the telehealth world is set to revert back to a pre-COVID-19 framework on January 1, 2025, where specifically for Medicare patients, with few exceptions including some for rural areas, patients can no longer receive telehealth in their homes.
The Medicare telehealth framework was expanded by a patchwork of legislation passed between March 2020 and December 2023. The expansions impact the core of Medicare’s coverage eligibility and reimbursement requirements for telehealth. As a result, healthcare providers continue to call for action to bridge the gap from flexibilities back to original telehealth boundaries in order to avoid a telehealth cliff that could impact the continuity of care to Medicare patients.
The following list includes key expansions set to expire on December 31, 2024: Beginning January 1, 2025, the provision of telehealth to Medicare patients may look different than the “telehealth” patients have become familiar with during the COVID-19 pandemic without Congressional action. Some bills have been proposed to renew these extensions but, to date, have not progressed to the voting stage in either chamber. CMS recently published the Provider Fee Schedule of 2025 acknowledging this “cliff,” but that it is limited in its regulatory power and cannot otherwise unilaterally expand when and how telehealth can be provided.
Thus, providers should continue to monitor the telehealth legislative landscape and move towards the end of the year aware that certain telehealth flexibilities could finally come to an end..
