Telehealth use by Medicare patients has skyrocketed amid regulatory flexibilities, increasing 63-fold between 2019 and 2020.
Telehealth flexibilities created during the pandemic would be extended for five months as part of the $1.5 trillion omnibus spending bill that Congress passed on Thursday evening. The legislation awaits President Biden's signature.
"We commend legislators for including critical telehealth extensions in this must-pass legislation, ensuring that patients do not fall off a 'telehealth cliff' immediately after the COVID-19 public health emergency ends," said Kyle Zebley, vice president, public policy, of the American Telemedicine Association.
Recommended For You
The extension would permit these telehealth flexibilities to continue:
- Medicare would cover the cost of telehealth visits, including some audio-only visits, for adults 65 and older.
- All Medicare-enrolled providers could bill for telehealth services.
- Medicare would cover all telehealth visits that take place in a patients' home and in medical facilities.
- The requirement that older adults who seek virtual mental health services must have an in-person visit six months after receiving a telehealth visit would be postponed.
- Federally qualified health centers and rural health clinics would be allowed to continue offering telehealth services, and the requirement that mental health patients meet a provider in-person before receiving virtual care would be waived.
- The types of practitioners eligible to provide telehealth services would be expanded to include occupational therapists, physical therapists, speech-language pathologists and audiologists.
The legislation also would require the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission to conduct a study analyzing the use of telehealth services under the Medicare program; telehealth expenditures; and the effects of expanded telehealth coverage on access to care among Medicare beneficiaries. Further, beginning July 1, the HHS secretary would be required to post data about telemedicine service claims to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services website every quarter.
Several stakeholders, including the American Telemedicine Association, have urged Congress to make telehealth flexibilities permanent regardless of the status of the pandemic. Earlier this week, 72 organizations sent a letter to government organizations urging them to solidify continued access to controlled substances via telehealth by not requiring initial in-person visits.
Telehealth use by Medicare patients has skyrocketed amid regulatory flexibilities, increasing 63-fold from approximately 840,000 virtual visits in 2019 to nearly 52.7 million in 2020, according to federal data. In particular, audio-only visits experienced a boost, with the use of phone-based telehealth growing from a quarter of all telehealth services in 2019 to one-third in 2020.
© 2025 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
Alan Goforth
Alan Goforth is a freelance writer in suburban Kansas City. In addition to freelancing for several publications, he has written a dozen books about sports and other topics.
