Telehealth Coverage Act of 2025

Key Points

• This bill would make temporary Medicare telehealth rules permanent. Pandemic-era flexibilities that let seniors see doctors over video or phone were set to expire on March 31, 2025. This law removes those expiration dates so patients never lose access to virtual care.
• It expands who can provide telehealth and where. Rural health clinics and federally qualified health centers can continue offering virtual visits permanently. It also removes in-person visit requirements before patients can start using telehealth for mental health, substance use treatment, home dialysis, and stroke care.
• The bill permanently allows audio-only phone calls for telehealth visits, helping patients without high-speed internet or smartphones. The Secretary of HHS will have authority to determine which services qualify for audio-only delivery.
• The government must issue guidance within one year to help patients with limited English proficiency access telehealth. This includes best practices for using interpreters during video visits, translating patient portals, and sending appointment reminders and prescription information in multiple languages.
• New fraud-prevention tracking codes for telehealth claims must be established by January 1, 2026. These codes will flag when a doctor contracts with or pays to use a virtual platform company, and when telehealth services are provided alongside a doctor's other professional services.
• The bill allows virtual-only suppliers to participate in the Medicare Diabetes Prevention Program (MDPP), removes geographic restrictions so patients can get services from out-of-state providers, and lifts the cap on how many times someone can re-enroll in the program.

Votes

No votes have been recorded for this legislation yet.