Here’s a prediction that might come true before the next issue of Part B News hits your inbox: Congress will extend the CMS telehealth waivers that are set to expire at midnight, Dec. 31. If that happens, popular waivers such as the ability for patients in all sections of the U.S. to receive an office visit from the comfort of their home would stay in place, but for how long remains to be seen.
Congress is up against a deadline to extend funding by Dec. 20, explains Kyle Zebley, Senior Vice President, Public Policy for the American Telemedicine Association (ATA) and Executive Director for ATA Action, and according to what he’s hearing, a telehealth extension will be included in a year-end spending bill.
“All the very substantiated reports we are hearing from Capitol Hill and from other lobbyists and other stakeholders is that we're going to be included in this end of year package,” Zebley says. There’s bipartisan support for such an extension and both the outgoing and incoming administrations have shown support for telehealth.
Zebley is optimistic about an extension, but also cautious. “I've been telling folks that champagne bottle shouldn't be popped until the signatures are drying from President Biden in terms of whatever legislation gets to his desk on funding.”
And if by some chance a telehealth extension doesn’t make it into the next spending bill, Zebley believes pressure would increase to revive and extend the waivers. The first Trump administration implemented the waivers in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and they are popular with providers and patients. However, he thinks it is unlikely that Congress will allow the provisions to lapse, given the strong bipartisan support in both chambers.
Zebley also predicts we’ll see more action on two more telehealth fronts next year, as agencies work against a Dec. 31, 2025, deadline for two extended waivers:
- Prescriptions for controlled substances by telehealth. The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), in conjunction with the HHS continue to work on this waiver, although it remains to be seen whether the DEA will make a permanent change to its prescription rules. The agency faced strong pushback when it attempted to wind up the waivers at the end of the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE).
- The Box 32 issue. As the PHE was wrapping up, CMS wanted to require providers who performed telehealth services from home to add their home address to their enrollment information. “Medicare told providers that if they do a significant portion of their work from someplace other than the office like their home that they would have to divulge the home address to CMS,” Zebley explained. That information could be accessed by the public and providers quickly pointed out the security issues this could create for them and anyone who lived with them. In response CMS put the home address requirement on hold until at least the end of next year, “but it's still looms out there is something that could happen in 2026,” Zebley explains.
Watch for a breaking news email from Part B News if Congress extends the telehealth waivers and more coverage in 2025.