Medicare extends hospice telehealth—but blocks it in problem areas
H.R. 1720 — Hospice Recertification Flexibility Act · Filed by Carol Miller (R-WV) · 5 cosponsors · Introduced Feb 27, 2025 · Referred to committee
Your members of Congress
Enter a ZIP to see where your representative and both senators stood on this bill.
Looked up on this device — your ZIP is never stored on our servers.
What it does
This bill extends Medicare's telehealth flexibilities for hospice recertifications from March 31, 2025 to December 31, 2027, allowing doctors to recertify hospice eligibility remotely. However, starting January 1, 2026, telehealth recertifications are blocked in areas with hospice enrollment moratoriums, for providers under enhanced oversight, and for physicians not properly enrolled—and all telehealth recertifications must be flagged with a modifier code so Medicare can track them.
Why we flagged it
The bill extends a telehealth convenience but simultaneously narrows it with three enforcement carve-outs and adds tracking requirements. It is neither a pure expansion nor a pure restriction—it is a conditional extension paired with regulatory tightening on a subset of hospice providers.
What the text implies
- The modifier requirement creates a new data-collection mechanism that allows CMS to identify and potentially audit or restrict telehealth recertifications by provider, potentially enabling future enforcement actions based on usage patterns.
- Patients in areas with hospice enrollment moratoriums (typically imposed due to quality or fraud concerns) are explicitly denied telehealth access, which may increase burden on already-vulnerable populations in problem areas.
The full analysis lists 4 implications of this text.
Who stands to gain
Compliant hospice providers (reduced travel/administrative burden); Telehealth technology vendors serving hospice sector; Hospice physicians and nurse practitioners in non-moratorium areas