When federal authorization for Medicare-covered telehealth services lapsed at the end of the federal fiscal year on September 30, it was only supposed to affect traditional Medicare participants.
But not everyone got the message.
Some providers, confused about the lapse of Medicare authorization, are refusing to prescribe telehealth services for their non-Medicare patients.
In addition, some health insurers are declining to cover telehealth services for their non-Medicare patients, misinterpreting the scope of the loss of Medicare authorization for telehealth care – something they should not be doing, according to a health insurance industry trade group.
Older patients, patients with limited mobility, and residents of rural areas with limited access to providers are especially affected by these failures.
Learn more about the underutilization of telehealth during the federal government shutdown from the Stateline article “Shutdown forces Medicare patients off popular telehealth and hospital-at-home programs.”