Medicare beneficiaries are at risk of losing access to two critical virtual care programs that have been available since the pandemic began, with key telehealth and hospital-at-home flexibilities set to expire on October 1. The situation is complicated by ongoing government funding negotiations, with no clear deal in sight to extend these programs. Despite the looming deadline, providers may continue using these virtual care modalities with the hope that Congress will offer a retroactive fix.The expiration dates come amid broader congressional debates over government funding and healthcare policy priorities. The uncertainty around virtual care flexibilities is intertwined with other contentious healthcare items including expiring safety-net hospital funding and debates over ACA subsidies.
What This Means for Hospitals and Health SystemsHospitals have increasingly incorporated telehealth and hospital-at-home services into their operations, which has helped alleviate revenue and expense pressures. If these programs expire without extension, hospitals face significant operational and financial disruption, potentially needing to suspend virtual care programs they’ve built over the past several years and losing a key tool for managing capacity and costs while maintaining patient access to care.