Medicare Telehealth Wins Another Temporary Lifeline

By Mary Helen Gillespie

On March 14, 2025, as part of a spending bill to avert a federal government shutdown, Congress extended COVID-era telehealth “waivers” applicable to Medicare until Sept. 30, 2025. These were originally scheduled to end March 31, 2025.

According to the National Law Review, this is welcome news for health care organizations who have relied on the flexibility offered by these waivers to extend access to telehealth services for Medicare beneficiaries and other patients nationwide since the COVID-19 pandemic. However, this represents another short-term extension by the government and poses questions on whether all or some of the telehealth flexibilities will be codified into law.

As a reminder, a set of key waivers to Medicare telehealth payment restrictions were enacted under the Social Security Act temporarily in connection with COVID-19 pandemic measures. These statutory waivers have now been extended by act of Congress multiple times, and this latest extension will have these impacts related to telehealth.