Health Affairs March 4, 2025
Right before the New Year, Congress extended Medicare’s telehealth flexibilities for three months during the lame-duck session, providing a temporary reprieve for millions of patients and providers who rely on virtual care until March 31. While this move averts an immediate crisis, it fails to address telehealth’s long-term uncertainty. These temporary solutions undermine the full potential of telehealth, leaving providers in limbo and patients at risk of losing critical access to care. With permanent policy reform, Congress can unlock telehealth’s full clinical and financial potential.
Temporary Extensions Are Undermining Telehealth
Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, telehealth has primarily survived in Medicare through a series of temporary measures. These flexibilities, which allowed patients to receive care from their...
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