Congress is once again closing in on a deadline to extend Medicare coverage of home telehealth services. And, again, the decision has been left until the last minute.
Telehealth has had new flexibilities since the Covid-19 public health emergency began, including expanded Medicare reimbursement. Originally scheduled to sunset alongside the emergency’s declared end, these flexibilities have been extended over and over again, often just weeks before planned expirations hit.
Congress has seen several bipartisan bills ranging from another extension to even making some Medicare flexibilities for telehealth permanent. The House included an extension in a stopgap bill that aimed to avoid a looming government shutdown, but the Senate rejected it last week.
If nothing is passed, on Oct. 1, many Medicare members won’t be able to access telemedicine from their homes anymore.
Even if an extension is passed, this uncertainty still impacts providers’ businesses, leaving them struggling to plan for a potential future where they might lose a chunk of their patients, experts told us.
