More than 450 organizations are demanding that lawmakers enact legislation to allow Medicare to permanently pay for telehealth services.
Led by The Alliance for Connected Care, hundreds of organizations that represent health care providers, digital health innovators, and patient and provider advocacy organizations, urge Congress to immediately act on a long-term telehealth fix in its next legislative package.
In a November 4 letter, the organizations said Congress has extended telehealth flexibilities multiple times immediately prior to the looming deadlines. But failure to do so this year has led to an abrupt end to telehealth services for millions of Medicare beneficiaries, they said.
The need for a permanent fix has become clearer amid the government shutdown. Virtual care flexibilities established during the COVID-19 pandemic, which has received wide bipartisan support, expired at the end of September after Congress failed to reach agreement over a measure to fund the government. The expiration of flexibilities meant most Medicare telehealth services provided in the home or outside rural areas (except for behavioral and mental health services) ended.
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Advocates say it’s time to end the cycle of temporary fixes, noting a research brief “from Brown University found that expiration of the expanded telehealth coverage has cut off access to telehealth services for more than four million Medicare beneficiaries and financial disruptions for 30 percent of providers that deliver the services.
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“Access to telehealth services serves as a lifeline to millions across the country, allowing patients to access critical health care services even when they have barriers to accessing in-person care, such as frailty and weakened immune systems, neurodegenerative disorders, and chronic conditions, which can make travel and in-person visits especially burdensome.”
The organizations urged Congress to quickly reinstate Medicare telehealth access and to work with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to ensure retroactive payment for practitioners that maintained patient access to crucial services during this lapse.
Among the concerns: a looming December 31 deadline for remote prescription flexibilities. Expiration will cause Americans managing mental health, substance abuse, and chronic conditions could lose access to essential care. ATA Action, the advocacy arm of the American Telemedicine Association, said. But Congress has the authority to extend it immediately, regardless of the shutdown, and work on a permanent solution.
The current prescribing flexibilities have led to improved opioid overdose outcomes, said Brian Clear, M.D., chief medical officer, Bicycle Health, and a member of ATA Action, in a statement. “Allowing the waivers to expire on December 31 would needlessly disrupt lifesaving treatment for hundreds of thousands of people and risk reversing that progress by cutting off evidence-based care mid-course. The administration can extend the current flexibilities now, so no one loses care while a permanent solution is still in development,” he said.
Meanwhile, legislation to expand telehealth coverage under Medicare has gained interest, according to Modern Healthcare. A House bill, Creating Opportunities Now for Necessary and Effective Care Technologies for Health Act of 2025, or CONNECT Act, now has 127 cosponsors, and 66 cosponsors from the Senate.