Medicare expands telehealth access, tightens fraud detection on equipment.
S. 2709 — Telehealth Modernization Act · Filed by Tim Scott (R-SC) · 15 cosponsors · Introduced Sep 4, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill extends Medicare telehealth flexibilities set to expire in 2025 through 2027 or 2030, removing geographic barriers, expanding eligible practitioners, and allowing audio-only and in-home services. It also extends the Acute Hospital Care at Home waiver through 2030, adds fraud-detection requirements for durable medical equipment and lab tests, mandates guidance on serving patients with limited English proficiency, and expands virtual diabetes prevention programs.
Why we flagged it
The bill's operative mechanism is extension and expansion of existing Medicare telehealth waivers and flexibilities. It removes geographic and practitioner-type restrictions, extends in-home service delivery, and adds program-integrity safeguards. The core function is access expansion, not deregulation or industry carve-out.
What the text implies
- Fraud-detection provisions (Section 5) create new prepayment review authority for DME and lab tests starting 2028, potentially slowing reimbursement for legitimate claims if review processes are not efficient.
- Acute Hospital Care at Home waiver extension through 2030 (Section 4) mandates a detailed study comparing outcomes, costs, and staffing between home and inpatient settings; if study shows adverse outcomes or cost overruns, future policy may restrict the program despite current expansion.
- Virtual diabetes prevention program expansion (Section 8) removes state-location restrictions and enrollment limits, potentially allowing high-volume online suppliers to dominate the market if quality oversight lags.
- In-home cardiopulmonary rehab flexibilities (Section 7) are time-limited (through January 1, 2027), creating uncertainty for beneficiaries and providers about whether the benefit will continue beyond that date.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
Ordinary Medicare beneficiaries gain expanded, sustained access to telehealth services (removing geographic barriers, allowing audio-only visits, extending in-home cardiopulmonary rehab) and improved language access guidance. Fraud-detection provisions protect program integrity without restricting legitimate beneficiary access. The bill does not impose new cost-sharing, eligibility restrictions, or coverage denials on patients.
Who stands to gain
- Telehealth vendors and technology companies (expanded service delivery channels)
- Rural health clinics and Federally Qualified Health Centers (extended payment flexibilities)
- Diabetes prevention program suppliers offering online services (new market access)
- Hospitals participating in Acute Hospital Care at Home initiative (extended waiver authority)
Named in the bill
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), Secretary of Health and Human Services, Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs), Rural Health Clinics, Acute Hospital Care at Home initiative, Medicare Diabetes Prevention Program (MDPP), Inspector General, Department of Health and Human Services
Where it stands
15 cosponsors: 7 Democrats, 7 Republicans, 1 Independents.
- Sep 4, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- Sep 4, 2025 — Referred to Senate Committee on Finance · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
16 lobbying clients named this bill on 23 disclosure filings across 3 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $4,882,118 in lobbying spend. A filing names 12 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 95% of bills with at least one filing.
Tim Scott, the sponsor, reported $214,300 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- Philips Holding USA Inc. — $1,310,000 on 2 filings
- American Association of Nurse Practitioners — $950,000 on 2 filings
- American Physical Therapy Association — $614,051 on 2 filings
- American Heart Association — $400,000 on 1 filing
- The American Occupational Therapy Association, Inc. (aota) — $378,000 on 2 filings
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 22, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (18,029 characters) on May 19, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 22, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
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