What’s at stake
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in March 2020, strong advocacy by the AMA was instrumental in achieving many improvements in the Medicare program’s payment policies for telehealth services:
- Patients all over the country can access telehealth, not just those in rural areas.
- Patients can receive telehealth services in their homes without going to a medical facility.
- Audio-only telehealth services may be provided when patients cannot use two-way audio-video telecommunications equipment.
- The number of services on the Medicare Telehealth List has been greatly expanded.
- Payments increased to the non-facility (i.e., office) rates, which are significantly higher than the previous facility rates.
- Physicians can provide virtual direct supervision for most services that require supervision and teaching physicians can provide virtual supervision of residents providing telehealth services.
- Previous limits on the frequency of telehealth services that could be provided to inpatient hospital and nursing facility patients have been lifted.
- Some patients who need hospital care can receive this care in their homes through the Acute Hospital Care at Home program instead of being admitted as hospital inpatients.
The telehealth expansions adopted by Medicare were quickly adopted by other health plans. In addition, with AMA support the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) implemented many telehealth flexibilities for enrolling patients with medication treatment for opioid use disorder and prescribing controlled substances to patients who have not had an in-person visit. The DEA policies have remained in place since 2020 and were recently extended through the end of Dec. 2026.
The telehealth expansions continue to greatly benefit patients. A new AMA issue brief (PDF) draws on claims data, peer-reviewed research and real-world implementation, to highlight how telehealth has become an essential pillar of modern health care delivery, with demonstrated impact in behavioral health, rural access and chronic disease management.
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In addition, another recent AMA report (PDF) found that in 2024, 71.4% of physicians reported using telehealth in their practices weekly, up from the 25.1% who reported that in 2018 before the pandemic. Use of telehealth varies by specialty, however, with psychiatrists most likely to report providing telehealth services in the past week.
Since the COVID-19 public health emergency, Congress has repeatedly extended telehealth flexibilities allowing physicians to continue to care for Medicare patients through telehealth. However, uncertainty for physicians and patients bubbles up as each deadline looms. During the 2025 government shutdown, the flexibilities were allowed to lapse for the first time, disrupting telehealth services, apart from mental health and substance use services, for 43 days.
The AMA’s position
While the two-year extension that was included in the H.R. 7148, the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2026, that was signed into law on Feb. 3, 2026, restores some certainty, the practice of temporarily authorizing Medicare telehealth services for a year or two needs to end. Congress should permanently authorize Medicare coverage of telehealth services for patients.
AMA advocacy in action
The AMA is:
- Supporting permanent authorization for Medicare telehealth coverage after the extension for two years following the 2025 government shutdown disruption.
- Supporting the Telehealth Modernization Act (S. 2709/H.R. 5081), which would allow patients all over the country to continue to access telehealth services and allow patients to receive telehealth services in their homes through 2027, as well as extend the Acute Hospital Care at Home program through 2030.
- Supporting the Creating Opportunities Now for Necessary and Effective Care Technologies (CONNECT) for Health Act (S. 1261/H.R. 4206), bipartisan legislation which would expand coverage of telehealth services through Medicare and make permanent COVID-19 telehealth flexibilities.
- Supporting the Hospital Inpatient Services Modernization Act (S. 2237/H.R. 4313), bipartisan legislation which would extend the Acute Hospital Care at Home (AHCaH) waiver authority through 2030 and commission a data-driven study to assess the quality, safety and equity implications of this innovative model of care.
Learn more
Visit AMA Advocacy in Action to learn more about the advocacy priorities the AMA is actively working on.
Get involved
The AMA works to generate support for policies critical to the nation’s health care system—and we can’t do it without your help. Learn more about ways to get involved with AMA advocacy.
