Sponsors (6)
The bill makes telehealth rehabilitation a permanent, billable option for Medicare beneficiaries—improving access and billing clarity—but raises trade-offs around potential higher Medicare costs, variable care quality for some patients, and added provider implementation costs.
Medicare beneficiaries with cardiac or pulmonary conditions can access rehabilitation services via telehealth at their homes or specified originating sites starting Jan 1, 2026, expanding access to needed care.
Hospitals and provider-based health systems can bill for telehealth rehabilitation when a patient’s home is designated provider-based, enabling continuity of care and more seamless billing for provider-based services.
The bill codifies COVID-era telehealth flexibilities for remote rehab services into permanent policy, reducing regulatory uncertainty for patients and providers.
Some patients may receive lower-quality rehabilitation care at home compared with in-person services, potentially worsening outcomes for certain beneficiaries.
Taxpayers and the Medicare trust fund could face higher spending if expanded telehealth rehab increases utilization without offsetting savings.
Hospitals and providers may incur upfront costs to deploy telehealth technology and meet new provider-based home compliance requirements, creating administrative and capital burdens.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Introduced January 24, 2025 by Marsha Blackburn · Last progress January 24, 2025
Permanently allows cardiac, intensive cardiac, and pulmonary rehabilitation services to be furnished via telehealth from patients’ homes by codifying COVID-era Medicare flexibilities and directing HHS to set standards to treat a patient’s home as a provider-based site for these programs. The law expands permitted originating sites, exempts certain geographic originating-site restrictions for covered rehab telehealth services furnished on or after January 1, 2026, and requires the Secretary of HHS to issue standards within 30 days of enactment; HHS may implement the changes administratively.