The current telehealth extension, the one that includes occupational and physical therapists working in the seating and wheeled mobility industry, ends Jan. 30, 2026.
If you’re thinking that this latest extension seems to sped by, maybe that’s because it passed on Nov. 12, as part of a continuing resolution that restarted the federal government. The extension was retroactive to Oct. 1, 2025. By the time the continuing resolution was signed, nearly a month and a half of that extension was gone.
Coincidentally, Jan. 31, 2026 — the day after the current extension will expire — is the six-year anniversary of the start of the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE), when telehealth flexibilities began.
The PHE was extended many times over more than a three-year span — and telehealth flexibilities with it — until the official end of the PHE in May 2023. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) noted that the Consolidated Appropriations Act 2023 “extended many telehealth flexibilities through Dec. 31, 2024” so Medicare beneficiaries could “access telehealth services in any geographic area in the United States, rather than only those in rural areas, [and] people with Medicare can stay in their homes for telehealth visits that Medicare pays for rather than traveling to a health care facility.”
After that, shorter-term extensions supported telehealth until Sept. 30, 2025. The federal government shutdown began the next day, Oct. 1, and lasted 43 days. On Nov. 12, the continuing resolution was signed, starting the current extension that ends Jan. 30 if no additional action is taken before that.
Telehealth has more than proven its value in the last six years. It’s provided options for Medicare beneficiaries who — despite long or difficult commutes, bad weather, illness or risk of illness, transportation challenges, mobility impairments, caregiver limitations, etc. — still were able to meet with their clinicians to move forward with their seating and wheelchair goals.
While it may feel as if this endless, sometimes broken string of extensions is working well enough, the uncertainty about whether an extension will be continued and when, and whether there will be interruptions, causes stress on health care professionals and therefore on their clients and patients. It complicates billing processes, can disrupt cash flow and lead to all the ripple effects that typically follow.
Even when extensions are eventually granted, the wondering and the worrying remain.
In August of last year, approximately 350 health care organizations, from the ALS Association, the American Occupational Therapy Association, and the American Physical Therapy Association to the American Association for Respiratory Care, the American Heart Association, the American Nurses Association and Easterseals signed a letter to leaders in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives to advocate for more dependable solutions.
“While we strongly support making Medicare telehealth access permanent, if that’s not achievable at this time, we urge Congress to approve the longest possible extension,” the letter said. “At a minimum, a two-year extension is needed to ensure stability and provide clarity for patients, providers and the health care system as a whole.”
The letter added that telehealth “is a continuation of standing, bipartisan policy over the last five years and will not lead to new costs,” while calling it a “lifeline” for Medicare beneficiaries.
After years of starts and stops, telehealth flexibilities need more than the same Band-Aid treatment every few months. Telehealth needs to be made a permanent option — and if that isn’t possible now, then the next extension needs to provide enough runway for a permanent solution to be created and established.
Telehealth is a win for all stakeholders, from patients and clients to clinicians, referral sources and payers. It’s time to treat it that way.
