The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2026 extended Medicare’s telehealth flexibilities, audio-only included, through Dec 31, 2027, with the tele-mental-health in-person deferral running to Jan 1, 2028. Unless Congress acts again, visits from patients’ homes outside rural areas stop qualifying. We sort your Medicare telehealth visits into those that continue and those that stop, and plan the transition.
Who it is for: Practices with Medicare patients seen by telehealth.
What's included
- Review of your Medicare telehealth visits by type, location and modality
- Which continue, which stop and which need an in-person visit
- In-person visit planning for tele-mental health patients
- Patient communication drafts
- A timeline that tracks what Congress does
Coding and claims stay with your billing team.
Questions
- Isn’t Medicare telehealth permanent now?
- No. Some pieces are permanent, such as behavioral health from home, but most of the flexibilities are extended only through Dec 31, 2027. The CONNECT for Health Act would make more of them permanent; it had not passed as of October 2026.