Telehealth proved its efficacy during the heart of the COVID-19 public health emergency, when hospitals and clinics sharply limited in-person appointments, but wheelchairs and seating provision for Medicare beneficiaries still needed to move forward.
The telehealth option isn’t the answer in every situation: It’s not a good fit where internet connections are unreliable or when adequate mobile devices aren’t available. But overall, telehealth has proven itself in the trenches.
Permanent funding for seating clinicians, however, has remained elusive. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) first announced telehealth flexibilities in the spring of 2020, as COVID-19 was gaining strength. The telehealth waiver, CMS said, was put in place “to ease the use of telecommunications technology as a safe substitute for in-person services.”
Occupational and physical therapy were included on the waiver list, as were speech language pathology services.
Even after the public health emergency expired in May 2023, telehealth flexibilities continued through multiple extensions — the last of which ended Sept. 30, 2025, despite industry lobbying.
Continuing resolution includes telehealth extension
The latest continuing resolution, passed Nov. 12 to end the federal government shutdown, included a telehealth option extension through Jan. 30, 2026.
In a Nov. 17 bulletin, the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) noted that the continuing resolution “will pay retroactively for services rendered during the shutdown” in “the same way they had been paid before Oct. 1, 2025, and telehealth flexibilities will apply retroactively as if there hadn’t been a lapse.”
In its Nov. 13 statement, the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) noted that CMS indicated “held telehealth claims may now be submitted to CMS for payment. Telehealth claims previously returned to providers can also be resubmitted at this time.”
AOTA also noted the need for a more permanent solution.
“AOTA supports legislation to establish permanent Medicare telehealth policy,” the organization said. “There has always been strong bipartisan support to extend telehealth waivers, and an earlier two-year waiver extension was included as part of a package of health care bills ready for passage by Congress last December. However, that package was derailed by issues unrelated to Medicare or telehealth, and Congress subsequently enacted short-term telehealth extensions through September 30. Congress must now act again to extend government funding by January 31, so the potential exists for further disruption unless a longer deal is reached or Medicare telehealth policy is delinked from the federal spending debate.”
APTA urged physical therapy clients to support continued telehealth funding by Medicare.
“While APTA is pleased with the extension of Medicare telehealth flexibility, our advocacy is not over yet,” the association said in its bulletin. “These policies expire on Jan. 30, 2026, when once again, Medicare beneficiaries will lose access to telehealth services. That’s why we need you to take action and tell your members of Congress about the unique benefits of telehealth physical therapy.”
Wins and next steps
In its Dec. 2 year-end letter, the National Coalition for Assistive & Rehab Technology (NCART) and Executive Director Wayne Grau pointed out that its 2025 achievements included “telehealth access for CRT [Complex Rehab Technology] evaluations strengthened in Colorado, Illinois and Massachusetts.”
AOTA said it was continuing its support of the Telehealth Modernization Act of 2025, which would extend Medicare funding for telehealth through fiscal year 2027; and H.R. 1614, which would permanently enable occupational and physical therapists, occupational therapists, speech language pathologists, and audiologists to provide telehealth services to Medicare beneficiaries.
