Congress Extends Telehealth Waivers

The recent enactment of the Consolidated Appropriations Act (CAA) includes provisions to extend beneficial telehealth waiver policies advocated by AHCA/NCAL. Under the current COVID-19 telehealth waiver policy, Medicare beneficiaries in all geographic locations can access telehealth services. Without legislative relief, beneficiaries in their homes, including assisted living residences or in nursing facilities in urban locations, would lose this access once the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE) ends. Title III, Subtitle A, Section 301 of the CAA legislation extends access nationwide for 151 days after the end of the PHE. AHCA/NCAL and a large coalition of provider groups requested a two-year extension.  

Section 302 also addresses a request by AHCA/NCAL and a coalition of therapy advocacy organizations to assure continued beneficiary access to rehabilitation therapy services via telehealth once the PHE ends. Specifically, the legislation explicitly lists physical therapists, occupational therapists, and speech-language pathologists as eligible telehealth practitioners for 151 days following the end of the COVID-19 PHE.  

The following telehealth waiver provisions are also extended for 151 days after the end of the COVID-19 PHE:

While temporary, these welcome extensions of telehealth waiver provisions permit more time for policymakers to evaluate the effectiveness of the waivers to determine which should become permanent. Section 308 includes two provisions to achieve this: