The American Relief Act: Which telehealth flexibilities are extended?
On December 21, 2024, President Joe Biden signed H.R. 10545, “American Relief Act, 2025,” into law. This three-month Continuing Resolution (C.R.) provides fiscal year 2025 appropriations to keep the government funded until March 14, 2025, and temporarily extends certain telehealth flexibilities through March 31, 2025.
Without this short-term extension, the telehealth flexibilities were set to expire on December 31, 2024.
How does the American Relief Act impact home health and hospice?
Specific to home health and hospice, Section 3207 of the American Relief Act includes:
- An extension for the waiver of the geographic and originating site restrictions allowing for the home health face-to-face (F2F) encounter to be performed via telehealth.
- An extension for the use of telehealth to conduct the hospice F2F encounter prior to the recertification of eligibility for hospice care.
This extension means the provision of home health and hospice F2F encounters can continue to be conducted via telehealth through March 31, 2025.
Although the healthcare industry is relieved to see these provisions temporarily extended, advocacy continues for a longer extension or a permanent allowance of these telehealth flexibilities.
With a new Congress sworn in this month, it is expected additional action will be taken to fund the federal government, which might create an opportunity to address telehealth and other federal healthcare priorities by March 14, 2025.
What else is included in the American Relief Act?
Other healthcare provisions included in this legislation that might be of interest to providers include:
- Section 3206: Extension of the 1.0 Work Geographic Index Floor from January 1, 2025 to April 1, 2025
- Section 3208: Extension of Medicare’s Acute Hospital Care at Home waiver authorities from December 31, 2024 until March 31, 2025
- Section 21306: Waives the 4% across-the-board PAYGO rule which would have triggered Medicare reductions to all Medicare providers effective January 1, 2025
The full text of the legislation can be accessed here.
Telehealth practitioners and staff should stay informed
At this time, home health and hospice providers should ensure staff are aware of the telehealth flexibilities extension, which will allow the use of telehealth for conducting the F2F encounters until March 31, 2025.
Providers are also encouraged to monitor for additional industry advocacy and Congressional action to further address telehealth and other federal healthcare priorities over the next few months.
MatrixCare is committed to staying ahead of coming regulations and compliance within home health and hospice. With our Best in KLAS software, we are dedicated to meeting the ever-changing needs of the industry.
Is your agency ready for these new extensions? We can help.
Carolyn Dean
Carolyn Dean joined MatrixCare as the Regulations Compliance Manager in 2014. She is responsible for monitoring CMS Medicare and Medicaid regulations in the post-acute care space to ensure company product and service solutions support compliance with new and changing regulations. Possessing over 30 years of healthcare IT experience in diverse leadership roles inclusive of customer service, quality assurance, and regulations, Carolyn has established a vast network of industry connections with various federal, state and industry entities and organizations.
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