Access to telehealth, greatly expanded during the pandemic, has continued via a series of temporary extensions rather than legislation.
The most recent extension expired on September 30, 2025. With the current deadlock and government shutdown, the future is unclear.
In short–if you couldn’t do telehealth for Medicare patients before the pandemic, you can’t do it now.
Additionally, we do not yet know how private payors will react. As of October 1, 2025, neither Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield nor United Healthcare have updated their policies.
So, what do we do?
We’ve researched and discussed this with many of our providers. We believe these are the most reasonable options for our unreasonable circumstance:
- Continue as if nothing has changed. We’ve been here several times before, and each time, telehealth was retroactively approved.
- Continue with telehealth appointments, but hold the claims until we have more clarity.
- Require your patients to sign ABNs and be vigilant in collecting copays for all telehealth encounters.
- Cancel all telehealth appointments and do everything in-person.
Any of these is a valid strategy; it comes down to what makes the most sense for your practice. Please reach out to us if you would like to discuss further. As always, we will monitor our claims closely and alert you if we see denials.