The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services updated its official telehealth FAQ on October 8. If you are on Medicare, or care for someone who is, it is the clearest summary yet of what the rules are now and what is scheduled to change.
The short version: video visits from home are safe through the end of 2027. After that, unless Congress acts again, most of them go away.
Through December 31, 2027
Congress extended Medicare’s pandemic-era telehealth flexibilities in the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2026, signed in February. Under that law, according to CMS:
- Beneficiaries can receive Medicare telehealth services anywhere in the United States and its territories, including at home.
- An extended range of practitioners, including physical therapists, occupational therapists, speech-language pathologists and audiologists, can bill for telehealth.
- Audio-only visits from home remain allowed.
- The in-person visit requirement for mental health telehealth is delayed.
Starting January 1, 2028
Unless the law changes:
- Except for behavioral health, beneficiaries will generally need to be in a medical facility in a rural area to receive Medicare telehealth.
- Therapists, speech-language pathologists and audiologists can no longer furnish Medicare telehealth services.
- Audio-only visits from home are limited to behavioral health, and only when the patient cannot or does not want to use video.
- New mental health telehealth patients will need an in-person visit within six months before their first telehealth session.
CMS says beneficiaries who start mental health telehealth at home before January 1, 2028 will be treated as established. They will not need the six-month visit, but will need an in-person visit at least every 12 months.
What is already permanent
Behavioral health telehealth, including substance use disorder treatment, has no geographic or location limits under a 2021 law. CMS also made virtual direct supervision through real-time video permanent for many services starting in 2026.
What to watch
Industry groups are pushing Congress to make the home-based flexibilities permanent before the 2027 deadline, rather than renewing them in short extensions. The last lapse, in October 2025, briefly cut off coverage during the government shutdown.
If you rely on Medicare telehealth for something other than mental health, there is nothing to do today. Just know the date, and ask your clinician what their plan is for 2028 if the law does not change.
Photo: Actor Raymond Massey receiving the first Medicare identification card in 1966. Los Angeles Times via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0.
Sources
- CMS: Telehealth FAQ, updated Oct. 8, 2026 (PDF)
- APTA: Medicare Telehealth Flexibilities Extended Through Dec. 31, 2027
- Forbes: Congress Extends Medicare Telehealth Coverage For Two Years
- K&L Gates: Climbing Back Up the Telehealth Cliff
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