[UPDATE: This post has been updated to reflect the Drug Enforcement Administration’s November 10, 2025, notice of the upcoming Fourth Temporary Extension of COVID-19 Telemedicine Flexibilities for Prescription of Controlled Medications.]
The United States just made its latest move regarding Medicare telehealth flexibilities, which expired on September 30, 2025.
On November 9, the Senate voted 60-40 to end the then-nearly 40-day U.S. government shutdown, hammering out a continuing resolution (CR) that would extend the telehealth flexibilities extended in the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023 through January 30, 2026. The House vote on November 12, 222-209, clinched the deal.
It’s a welcome development. A research brief updated on November 10, 2025, by the Center for Advancing Health Policy Through Research (CAHPR) and the Brown University School of Public Health reports that telemedicine visits declined by 24 percent in the first 17 days of October for Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries, and by 13 percent for Medicare Advantage beneficiaries. This is compared to visits from the start of July to the end of September, when the U.S. government’s failure to extend Medicare telehealth coverage sent practitioners and patients alike over what is now commonly termed a telehealth policy “cliff.”
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a final rule on November 1, 2018 that updates physician fee schedule (PFS) payments for calendar year (CY) 2019 and finalizes several policies. The final rule includes amendments to the regulations promulgated under Section 216 of the Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014 (“PAMA”) intended to increase the number of clinical laboratories that qualify as an “applicable laboratory” for reporting purposes; specifically (1) removal of payments received from Medicare Advantage (MA) Plans for determining ...
Providers, take note: the Chronic Care Management (CCM) CPT Code 99490 is now payable by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). Effective January 1, 2015, the Medicare program began making payments under the Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) for certain non-face-to-face management and care coordination services provided to beneficiaries covered under the traditional Medicare fee-for-service program. CCM services include, but are not limited to, development and maintenance of a plan of care, communication with other treating health care professionals, and ...
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