Sponsors
Introduced March 21, 2025 by Ro Khanna · Last progress March 21, 2025
The bill expands and codifies telehealth access and related program flexibilities—improving access and standardizing billing for many Medicare beneficiaries and providers—while raising risks of higher Medicare spending, added provider administrative burdens, reduced in‑person clinical oversight for some services, and implementation/oversight trade-offs.
Medicare beneficiaries (especially homebound and rural seniors) retain permanent access to telehealth and audio-only services, improving access to care outside emergency rules.
Providers (including FQHCs, RHCs, hospitals, and health systems) get clearer, standardized billing rules and required modifiers/codes for telehealth and hospice recertifications, which should streamline claims processing and program integrity.
HHS authority and program instructions enable faster implementation or expansion of benefits (e.g., in‑home cardiopulmonary rehabilitation and online MDPP), potentially making new or broader services available to eligible Medicare beneficiaries sooner.
Expanding and making permanent telehealth flexibilities (including online MDPP and unlimited re-enrollment) is likely to increase Medicare program spending and raise taxpayer costs.
New coding requirements, modifiers, and compliance checks combined with implementation timelines risk substantial administrative and billing burdens for clinicians and health systems, increasing the chance of claim denials and care delays.
Removing some in‑person requirements and expanding remote care could reduce clinical oversight for certain services, potentially harming care quality for some Medicare patients.
Based on analysis of 8 sections of legislative text.
Makes many Medicare telehealth flexibilities permanent or fixed to Mar 31, 2025; adds coding/modifier rules; issues LEP telehealth guidance; allows online MDPP suppliers from Jan 1, 2026.
Permanently extends and clarifies many Medicare telehealth flexibilities created during the COVID-19 public health emergency, fixes the emergency period end date as March 31, 2025 for certain rules, and removes some statutory in‑person requirements. It also requires HHS to issue guidance to improve telehealth for people with limited English proficiency, allows online-only Medicare Diabetes Prevention Program suppliers to enroll beginning January 1, 2026, sets coding/modifier requirements for certain telehealth uses (including hospice recertification encounters), and directs Medicare outreach on screening for medication‑induced movement disorders via telehealth.