Pandemic-related telehealth flexibilities set to expire March 31 have recently been extended for another six months as federal lawmakers approve a continuing resolution to fund the government and avoid a shutdown.

Congress has passed the Full-Year Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act 2025 (FY2025), which allowed for continuation of several public health, Medicare and Medicaid authorities and programs. Introduced last month, the bill was signed into law early Saturday, and included language to extend temporary telehealth waivers through September 30, 2025. The flexibilities included the ability to perform face-to-face recertifications through telehealth.

Though welcomed by many health care providers, a more permanent solution is needed to navigate future telehealth access and utilization, according to Julia Mirich, a spokesperson for Telehealth Access for America (TAFA).

“While Congress has avoided another telehealth cliff and we are grateful for the six-month extension provided, access to care for millions of Medicare patients, including six million seniors that rely on telehealth services, remains at-risk,” Mirich said in a statement shared with Hospice News. “The uncertainty surrounding telehealth coverage over the last several months reiterates the need for a permanent telehealth solution that provides peace of mind for both patients and providers. Congress must prioritize permanent protections to put patients first and unlock the full potential of telehealth.”

The new legislation brought the latest iteration of telehealth expiration dates, which have been reset several times since the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) temporarily instituted waivers during the public health emergency. They were previously slated to expire on Dec. 31.

The continuing resolution also extended waivers that expanded the scope of practitioners eligible to provide telehealth services, as well as flexibilities that removed geographic requirements and expanded originating sites for telehealth services, including or federally qualified health centers and rural health clinics.

Hospices and other health care providers have heavily leveraged virtual services during the past five years of the telehealth waivers, particularly to reach patients in rural and remote locations with limited resources. Telehealth has allowed hospices to reach more patients during a time of rising demand and prolific staffing shortages that were exacerbated by the pandemic. Providing virtual services have additionally aided in the ability to offer more layers of support to patients and caregivers, helping hospices to avoid unnecessary home visits and strike better clinical capacity balances.

Several organizations recently penned a joint letter calling on Congress to extend the face-to-face recertification telehealth waivers. Organizations included the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine (AAHPM), the National Coalition for Hospice and Palliative Care (NCHPC), the National Partnership for Healthcare and Hospice Innovation (NPHI) and the National Alliance for Care at Home, among others.

Telehealth has been found as an “effective means” of conducting these visits without increasing Medicare costs, particularly in rural and high-traffic urban areas with underserved populations, they indicated.

“The in-person requirement is burdensome on hospice providers,” the organizations stated in the letter. “This [ face-to-face] flexibility has yielded benefits for patients and providers, allowing hospice providers to focus on direct patient care, reducing unnecessary burdens, and improving patient and family satisfaction and it is critical that this flexibility be maintained going forward.”

The new law comes as a beacon for many stakeholders who want to see the flexibilities become permanent. To date, CMS has given no indication that the agency is pursuing such a move. However, some advocacy organizations have seen signs of encouragement with Dr. Mehmet Oz’s recent nomination to lead CMS. Oz emphasized telehealth utilization as a “major focus,” in a recent Senate confirmation hearing.

“Major inroads” could be on the horizon for telehealth regulations as policymakers increasingly recognize these services as “vital” to the care delivery, according to Kyle Zebley, executive director of the American Telemedicine Association (ATA).

While the new law allows for more time to discern how the future of telehealth utilization will unfold, it also brings more uncertainty for both patients and providers, Zebley said in an announcement shared with Hospice News.

“By including these provisions in this stopgap legislation, Congress sent a very clear message that telehealth is a fundamental part of care delivery, and that we must not reverse the significant progress made in modernizing our health care system,” Zebley said. “At the same time, the shortened duration of the extensions included are an impediment to long-term certainty, and the exclusion of other essential telehealth programs that expired or were absent from the final bill continues to prevent millions of individuals from accessing needed care.”