BETHLEHEM, Pa. — Uncertainty on whether Medicare telehealth funding will be extended by the March 31 deadline may have patients who rely on such services anxious about the future.
Not to worry, said Christina Musser, senior director of Virtual Care and Patient Experience at St. Luke’s University Health Network.
“My gut feeling is I don’t see a scenario where they cut this off,” Musser said in a call Friday.
“Every expiration date for telehealth has been extended to the 11th hour. The most likely scenario is it gets an extension in the 11th hour again.”Christina Musser, senior director of Virtual Care and Patient Experience, St. Luke’s University Health Network.
Telehealth includes medical or health services that you get from a doctor or other health care provider using audio and video communications technology (or audio-only services in some cases) — such as through a phone or computer.
“It would be a hit to our senior patients who depend on this for many different reasons, such as alleviating transportation burdens a lot of our patients have.
“Every expiration date for telehealth has been extended to the 11th hour. The most likely scenario is it gets an extension in the 11th hour again.”
Repeated extensions
Sixteen percent of St. Luke’s telehealth population is on Medicare, Musser said.
Examples of telehealth services include those with physical and mental health issues and chronic care checkups.
St. Luke’s Virtual Urgent Care services lets patients meet with the region’s top medical providers quickly, without having to leave home.
After the coronavirus pandemic was declared in March 2020, the federal government granted Medicare the flexibility to greatly expand coverage of telehealth services on an emergency basis.
“Social Security won’t be touched, other than if there’s fraud or something. It’s going to be strengthened. Medicare, Medicaid — none of that stuff is going to be touched.”President Donald Trump
The following December, Medicare coverage of mental telehealth services was permanently expanded.
Since then, Medicare’s flexibility for covering other health and medical services via telehealth has repeatedly been extended.
But the last of those extensions is effective only through March 31.
Last week, President Trump promised that “Social Security won’t be touched, other than if there’s fraud or something.”
“It’s going to be strengthened. Medicare, Medicaid — none of that stuff is going to be touched,” he said.
However, this week, Trump endorsed House Republicans’ budget plan that would make an $880 billion cut to Medicaid.
On Wednesday, the White House indicated Trump may also be open to altering elements of Medicare.
'The advocacy is there'
As of December, 68 million Americans are enrolled in Medicare, according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
“This is being rolled into a fear that’s out there in this political climate,” Musser said. “The ATA sat down with Trump and he’s in favor of extending it. So is [U.S. Secretary of Health] R.F.K. Jr.
“There’s continuing bipartisan support. People are creating a political statement on this where there doesn’t need to be one.”
“There’s action going on in the background to extend it. Folks need to trust that the advocacy is there.”Christina Musser, senior director of Virtual Care and Patient Experience at St. Luke’s University Health Network
Still, Medicare patients and providers who have come to rely on remote health care delivery are left to wonder:
- Will the federal government grant a further extension of Medicare telehealth flexibilities — or perhaps permanently allow Medicare to cover a full range of telehealth services?
- Or is the era of expanded Medicare telehealth coverage coming to an end?
The American Telemedicine Association, the American Medical Association and other agencies are in regular and constant communication with the Trump Administration, as they had been with prior administrations, Musser said.
“There’s action going on in the background to extend it,” she said. “Folks need to trust that the advocacy is there.”
