Telehealth flexibilities reinstated as government shutdown ends

Flexibilities for Medicare telehealth coverage are back in place after Congress passed legislation to end the longest government shutdown in U.S. history this week.

The stopgap funding law , which was signed by President Donald Trump late Wednesday, reinstates the pandemic-era virtual care policies through Jan. 30. Those policies include changes like eliminating geographic restrictions for virtual care and allowing all eligible Medicare providers to offer telehealth.

Additionally, the spending plan reauthorizes the CMS’ Acute Hospital Care at Home program — another initiative started during the pandemic that permits hundreds of hospitals across the country to provide inpatient level care in patients’ homes — through Jan. 30.

The spending law comes after telehealth providers were