The Vital Need To Extend Pandemic-Era Telemedicine Waivers

The pandemic catalyzed a shift in healthcare delivery, rapidly expanding telemedicine services to ensure patients could access essential care safely. While the pandemic has waned and public emergency declarations have ended, telemedicine waivers have survived, and it has become urgent to maintain them.To meet the needs of patients and providers during pandemic restrictions, Congress passed legislation allowing Medicare to cover telehealth services. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) took steps to improve access by issuing waivers that eased restrictions and broadened coverage criteria for telehealth and remote patient monitoring (RPM) services while also increasing reimbursement rates for virtual visits.