Resources & Reports

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently released an additional extension of the effective date for two previously published federal final rules:

• Expansion of Buprenorphine Treatment via Telemedicine Encounter (Now Effective December 31, 2025)
• Continuity of Care via Telemedicine for Veterans Affairs Patients (Now Effective December 31, 2025)

With the recent extension of the telehealth waivers (until September 30, 2025) to allow services to continue being reimbursed without stringent rural and facility-based requirements, one key distinction deserves attention: Communication Technology-Based Services (CTBS). The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) separated CTBS from traditional telehealth in 2019 when they announced through their 2019 Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) reimbursement for remote services that do not fall under “Medicare telehealth services.” These services, although delivered in an electronic format, don’t qualify as telehealth (in Medicare’s eyes) and providers won’t find the majority of these CTBS codes on the list of services eligible for telehealth coverage in Medicare.

Last Friday, Congress passed a new Continuing Resolution (CR) to maintain federal government funding and extend temporary Medicare telehealth flexibilities to September 30, 2025 (pushing back the previous expiration date of March 31). President Trump signed it into law shortly after. While this extension provides some relief, telehealth stakeholders now face yet another looming deadline in September, keeping long-term policy uncertainty in play. Meanwhile, lawmakers continue to stress the need for data to justify permanent telehealth coverage.  Two recent studies from the University of Michigan’s Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation may help to alleviate concerns that expanded Medicare telehealth coverage will increase healthcare utilization and spending:

• Telehealth and Outpatient Utilization: Trends in Evaluation and Management Visits Among Medicare Fee-For-Service Beneficiaries, 2019-2024
• Association Between Telehealth Use and Downstream 30-Day Medicare Spending

CCHP’s March Newsletter is here! This month’s newsletter includes the following topics – Upcoming Medicare Telehealth Changes: What You Need to Know; AI in Healthcare 2025: Trends, Adoption, and the Evolving Regulatory Landscape; Telehealth’s Evolution in California: Progress, Challenges, and Opportunities; Latest Developments in CCHP’s Telehealth Policy Finder and Policy Trend Map; For California Farmworkers, Telehealth Visits With Mexican Doctors Fill a Gap; Medicaid Telehealth Policies Strain FQHCs, Worsening Workforce Shortages and Access to Care.