Telehealth for Medicare Patients is Tied to the Federal Health Emergency

There has been some question raised by CMA physicians about the status of telehealth services for Medicare patients. Some confusion may have occurred over recent news coverage around the status of the federal health emergency declaration.

Beginning on January 31 of 2020, the federal government has been issuing 90-day declarations of a federal health emergency related to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19).

Last week the Department of Health and Human Services extended the federal health emergency declaration for another 90-day period, beginning April 16, 2022.

This declaration has begun to get some political attention, as last week a group of 70 Members of Congress sent a letter to the President asking that the health emergency not be renewed.
There are many ramifications for the ending of the emergency declaration - whenever it occurs - as some funding and procedures have been 'normalized' for the past 2+ years to deal with a myriad of COVID-19-related challenges.

One issue of note that has implications for a broad swath of physicians is that the CMS rules for telehealth for Medicare patients are attached to the emergency status. In anticipation of a future ending of the emergency declaration, Congress passed a law last month which extended telehealth for 5 months past whenever the ending of the emergency occurs. In theory, this will give the federal government time to implement permanent rules to extend the provisions of telehealth for Medicare patients.

In addition to this 5-month window, the Administration has indicated its intent to give a 60-day notice prior to allowing the emergency declaration expire. At this point, notwithstanding the recent Congressional letter, there is no indication that this will happen at a time certain.

As telehealth has become more common and an increasing part of the provision of healthcare, there will likely be much more on this issue from the various stakeholders involved who will be interested to maintain a vibrant telehealth option for Medicare recipients.