Medicare quietly expands telehealth access while tracking platform-based care

What it does

This bill makes permanent several temporary telehealth flexibilities that were created during the COVID-19 emergency, allowing Medicare beneficiaries to receive more services remotely (including mental health, substance use disorder, dialysis, and stroke care) without requiring an in-person visit first. It expands which types of providers can offer telehealth, permits audio-only visits for certain services, and requires Medicare to track which telehealth services are delivered through contracted virtual platforms versus independent practitioners.

Why we flagged it

The bill's core function is to permanently expand telehealth coverage and access under Medicare by removing in-person visit requirements and broadening eligible providers and service types.

What the text implies

• The modifier requirement (Section 2) creates a tracking mechanism that may allow CMS to identify and potentially scrutinize telehealth services delivered through contracted virtual platforms, potentially creating a two-tier system where platform-based telehealth is flagged for closer review.
• Expansion of audio-only telehealth for mental health and substance use disorder services may increase utilization but could also reduce clinical oversight if not paired with adequate training and quality standards.
• The bill's removal of in-person requirements for hospice recertification encounters (with exceptions for certain high-risk scenarios) may accelerate hospice enrollment in areas with weak oversight, though the carve-outs for enhanced-oversight providers and moratorium areas provide some safeguard.
• Allowing unlimited re-enrollment in the Medicare Diabetes Prevention Program (Section 7) may increase program costs if beneficiaries cycle through repeatedly without sustained behavior change.

Who it affects

Ordinary Medicare beneficiaries gain expanded access to remote care, reducing travel burden and improving access for rural and homebound patients. The bill removes barriers to mental health and substance use disorder treatment via telehealth. The tracking requirements (modifiers) are administrative and do not restrict access.

Who stands to gain

• telehealth platform companies
• remote patient monitoring vendors
• health information technology providers
• federally qualified health centers
• rural health clinics
• diabetes prevention program suppliers

Named in the bill

Medicare, Social Security Act Section 1834, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs), Rural Health Clinics (RHCs), Medicare Diabetes Prevention Program (MDPP), Diabetes Prevention Recognition Program (DPRP), CDC, HHS Secretary

Where it stands

• Mar 21, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
• Mar 21, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Ways and Means and House Committee on Energy and Commerce · Congress.gov: “Referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on Ways and Means, for a…”

Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.

Money around this bill

2 lobbying clients named this bill on 2 disclosure filings across 2 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $250,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 13 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.

More lobbying clients named this bill than 41% of bills with at least one filing.

Ro Khanna, the sponsor, reported $0 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.

• Alliance for Connected Care — $200,000 on 1 filing
• Athenahealth, Inc. — $50,000 on 1 filing

Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 20, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.