Congress Must Act on Telehealth Flexibility Before Provisions Expire

Policies that have allowed PTs and PTAs to provide services via telehealth to Medicare beneficiaries since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic are scheduled to expire Dec. 31, despite the clear benefits to patients and providers over the past four years.

For PTs, PTAs, and their Medicare patients, extension of these telehealth flexibilities is critical to maintaining continuity of care. To that end, APTA and other therapy provider associations are urging Congress to extend the pandemic-era Medicare telehealth policies. We need your help in these advocacy efforts: Ask your members of Congress to pass a year-end legislative package and support extending telehealth via APTA's Patient Action Center.

Congress has extended these policies every time they have approached expiration in the past and is aware of the need to confront this issue again soon. There appears to be clear bipartisan support for preserving current Medicare telehealth policies. In September, the House Energy and Commerce Committee voted unanimously to approve a two-year extension of all current telehealth polices in the Medicare program, including permitting PTs, PTAs, and other therapy providers to use telehealth to treat Medicare patients until Dec. 31, 2026.

The action by the committee must be approved by the full House of Representatives and the Senate, and then signed into law. As estimated by the Congressional Budget Office, the entire telehealth extension will cost approximately $4 billion, and Congress is examining budgetary options to ensure that the telehealth proposal is paid for. While it is expected that during the lame-duck session Congress will include the telehealth extension in an end-of-year spending bill, there is growing concern that Congress may leave town in December without passing a year-end package.

APTA encourages members to ask their members of Congress to pass a year-end legislative package and support extending these critical benefits for Medicare patients. APTA's Legislative Action Center makes it easy to contact congressional representatives from each state.