The loss of telehealth for face-to-face encounters is forcing providers to divert staff away from direct care and preventing some patients from being admitted at all, argues the National Alliance for Care at Home.
A waiver allowing physicians to conduct face-to-face encounters via telehealth regardless of the patient's location ended Oct. 1. Hospices also can no longer use telehealth encounters for recertification.
Providers that use a face-to-face encounter conducted via telehealth during the federal government shutdown risk not being paid, Dr. Steve Landers stressed in a letter to congressional leaders Monday, Oct. 14, 2025.
The Alliance is calling on Congress to act to reinstate telehealth capabilities and apply this retroactively to protect agencies using telehealth visits conducted after Sept. 30.