Medicare Archives - LearnTelehealth

Spring Success: Fresh Resources from the SCTRC

SCTRC Staff — Wed, 18 Mar 2026 16:47:19 +0000

HOP To It! Check Out Our Latest Updates

Spring is the perfect time to grow your telehealth knowledge! Our team has planted fresh seeds of information in hopes it will all help sprout new ideas. From podcasts to videos to trainings…oh my! Don’t let this new content pass you by.

Telehealth Roundup: SCTRC Regional Billing & Reimbursement Update

Our guest speaker, Hayley Prosser, Revenue Cycle Director with RuralMED joined us to guide attendees through the significant telehealth billing and coding changes for the South Central Region (Arkansas, Mississippi, and Tennessee).

ACCESS Model (Advancing Chronic Care with Effective, Scalable Solutions)

Today, people with Original Medicare have limited access to technology-supported care services for managing their chronic conditions because of Medicare payment barriers. Through ACCESS (Advancing Chronic Care with Effective, Scalable Solutions) Model, CMS will test a new payment option that emphasizes outcomes over activities, enabling clinicians to offer innovative technology-supported care that improves patients’ health and complements traditional care. Read more!

“Connected Care – Blood Pressure Kits in Rural Libraries” – Telehealth Talk Episode 45

High blood pressure is a leading risk factor for heart disease and stroke, yet many people go undiagnosed or struggle to monitor their numbers consistently. Brady Lacy, Senior Community Impact Director at the American Heart Association in Little Rock Arkansas joins us to share everything about this special program.

Telehealth Medicare Waivers Extended Through 2027

Great news! Congress just approved a full-year FY 2026 Labor, Health and Human Services appropriations package. This means we officially have a two-year extension of Medicare telehealth flexibilities through December 31, 2027! The bill passed both the House and Senate and the President’s has officially signed, ending a brief partial government shutdown. As with the last shutdown, the new language is expected to apply retroactively and cover this previous lapse period. This deal will restore continuity to Medicare telehealth coverage and avoid a prolonged return to permanent, pre-pandemic policy. Read more!

Supporting Breastfeeding Through Virtual Care - Telehealth Talk Episode 44

In this episode, Karina Leal Vargas, BSN, RNC-MNN, Clinical Research Nurse from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences shares the development and implementation of a TeleLactation pilot designed to support breastfeeding mothers during the demanding postpartum period. Listeners will learn how TeleLactation reduced barriers such as transportation and limited outpatient services while strengthening breastfeeding knowledge, confidence, and continuation. Listen Now!

Telehealth Roundup: Mobile Health Units in the South Central Region

If you missed our recent Telehealth Roundup: Mobile Health Units in the South Central Region, look no further! The recording and presentation slides are now available for viewing. Subject matter experts Denton Thompson, MBA RN, with the UAMS Mobile Health Units, Sonja Fuqua, PhD, RN, PCMH CCE, with the Community Health Center Association of Mississippi, and Diana Dedmon, DNP, APRN, FNP-BC, AFN-C with the University of Tennessee Health Science Center discuss MHUs and their impact on communities!

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Medicare Telehealth Waivers Set to Expire September 30, 2025

Julie Sheppard — Tue, 09 Sep 2025 19:10:23 +0000

September is here and the expiration of the Medicare telehealth waivers, is approaching quickly!

Without action from Congress, Medicare will return to its permanent rules on September 30, 2025. This means geographic and other restrictions will be reinstated, reducing access to telehealth for many Medicare enrollees.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services recently released proposals for the 2026 Physician Fee Schedule which could also affect permanent telehealth policies. Starting October 1, 2025, some patients and providers may experience these rules for the first time, and it could create confusion.

To help clarify the changes, The Center for Connected Health Policy (CCHP) will be publishing a newsletter series examining what the Medicare telehealth policy environment could look like if the waivers expire. Each edition will focus on a specific aspect of permanent policy. This week the focus is on Medicare location requirements.

If you are not already subscribed, the CCHP newsletter is a helpful resource for staying up to date on telehealth policies at both the state and national level and for knowing where to find reliable information or guidance.

Thank you to our friends at the CCHP for this information and their guidance!

The post Medicare Telehealth Waivers Set to Expire September 30, 2025 appeared first on LearnTelehealth.

NEW! Proposed CY 2026 Physician Fee Schedule (Including a CCHP Fact Sheet!)

Lizzie Casteel — Thu, 24 Jul 2025 17:38:28 +0000

Just Released! Proposed CY 2026 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule

On July 14, 2025 the unpublished version of the the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) 2026 Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) was released (the official version was subsequently published in the Federal Register).

The PFS is the channel that CMS uses to update, change, or introduce new policies that will impact the Medicare program and typically go into effect on the first of the new year. The telehealth community is interested to see if a similar approach will be taken that was used for the 2025 PFS, where several policies were introduced as a precautionary measure to mitigate the potential effects of an expiration to the temporary Medicare telehealth waivers.

Our friends at the CCHP released a newly created factsheet containing a more detailed analysis of the telehealth elements within the proposed 2026 PFS. View the full PFS here and the CCHP Fact Sheet by clicking the link through the button below!

CCHP Fact Sheet of Proposed CY 2026 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule

Thank you to CCHP for the guidance and information provided for this article.

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Medicare Enrollment and Reassignment for Virtual/Hybrid care providers: Architecture and Execution

Stephanie Graham — Wed, 28 May 2025 19:00:00 +0000

Join us for an insightful webinar designed to equip virtual and hybrid care organizations with the knowledge and strategies needed to navigate the intricate landscape of Medicare enrollment, compliance, and operational infrastructure. As virtual and hybrid care models continue to evolve, organizations face unique challenges in managing their legal and operational frameworks. This webinar will provide a comprehensive overview of these complexities, offering practical solutions to ensure compliance and optimize efficiency.

Who Should Attend:

Leaders and administrators of virtual and hybrid healthcare organizations
Compliance officers and legal counsel
Billing and revenue cycle management professionals
Credentialing and enrollment specialists
Healthcare consultants

Don’t miss this opportunity to gain critical insights and practical strategies for building a compliant and efficient virtual or hybrid care organization. Register today!

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Critical Telehealth Updates – The Status of Congress’s Financial Package and Telehealth Policy

Stephanie Graham — Wed, 14 May 2025 17:00:00 +0000

Numerous telehealth flexibilities created during the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency have been extended year after year through federal financial packages and CMS policy. The end of 2024 brought significant uncertainty, as many provisions of telehealth coverage for Medicare came down to the wire in a last minute, 90-day extension just before they were set to expire on January 1. With the end of that 90-day extension passing on April 1, 2025, this session will address Congressional action that affects Medicare coverage of telehealth in 2025 and beyond.

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Continuing Resolution Passed for Medicare Telehealth Flexibilities

Lizzie Casteel — Fri, 28 Mar 2025 16:13:13 +0000

On March 15, 2025, 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.

As Congress considers further extensions of the temporary Medicare telehealth policies, which have been in place since 2020, it would be reassuring if they were to also consider these latest findings in the context of proposing a more permanent and stable Medicare telehealth landscape moving forward. At the time of writing, the most recently passed Continuing Resolution only extends Medicare telehealth waivers through September 30, 2025.

For more information regarding the Continuing Resolution recently passed by Congress, please view the legislation in its entirety and stay tuned for additional updates from CCHP.

Read Full Legislation - H.R. 1968

Content and updates provided by the Center for Connected Health Policy

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Changes to Care Management Coding and Billing in RHCs, FQHCs for 2025

Stephanie Graham — Wed, 12 Mar 2025 17:00:00 +0000

This session will discuss changes to the types of care management services RHCs and FQHCs can perform and bill to the Medicare program, and how those services are coded and paid. It will also cover Medicaid coverage of certain care management services like remote physiologic monitoring.

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American Relief Act, 2025 — Critical Outstanding Issues

Stephanie Graham — Wed, 15 Jan 2025 16:00:00 +0000

On Dec. 21, 2024, President Biden signed the American Relief Act, 2025 (ARA), into law, narrowly avoiding a federal government shutdown. Unlike the more comprehensive bill defeated in the House of Representatives two days earlier after President-elect Trump raised objections, the ARA is a temporary solution to keep the federal government operating through the end of March.

On Wednesday, Jan. 15, 11 a.m.-12 p.m. ET, PYA presents a new webinar, “The American Relief Act, 2025: How We Got Here, What It Means, Where We’re Headed.” During the webinar, PYA’s Martie Ross and Kathy Reep will discuss the impact of the new law, both by what’s included and what’s not. Ross and Reep will prognosticate what will happen in the first months of the Trump administration to address critical outstanding issues such as

Medicare telehealth coverage
Medicare physician pay cut
Price transparency
Site-neutral payments
Medicaid DSH payments
Hospital-at-home demonstration project

Also, Martie and Kathy will discuss two proposed rules released in December: the Contract Year 2026 Medicare Advantage and Part D Proposed Rule and the proposed updates to the HIPAA Security Rule.

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NCTRC Webinar – Federal Telehealth Policy in 2025

Stephanie Graham — Thu, 09 Jan 2025 19:00:00 +0000

Come join the Center for Connected Health Policy (CCHP) as we look at where federal telehealth policy stands in 2025. Co-hosted with the National Consortium of Telehealth Resource Centers (NCTRC), this webinar will examine recent actions Congress has (or has not) taken in regards the federal waivers on Medicare telehealth policies, what has changed, what is continuing, or not. Registration is free but space is limited.

Presented by: Mei Kwong, Executive Director, Center for Connected Health Policy

The post NCTRC Webinar – Federal Telehealth Policy in 2025 appeared first on LearnTelehealth.

CMS Releases Medicare Telehealth Trends Report for 2023

Amy Moses — Wed, 19 Jul 2023 14:16:55 +0000

CMS has released its Medicare Telehealth Trends Report, which is an overview of people with Medicare who utilized telehealth services between January 1, 2020 and September 30, 2022. The data for the report comes from Medicare Fee-forService (FFS) Part B claims data and Medicare enrollment information.

Report

For additional details on Medicare telehealth expansions, please visit https://telehealth.hhs.gov

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