Telehealth flexibilities restored after federal shutdown... for now
After a 43-day federal shutdown, Congress and President Trump approved a short-term funding bill that restores Medicare telehealth flexibilities and extends the Acute Hospital Care at Home Program through January 30, 2026.
The legislation also provides retroactive coverage and reimbursement for telehealth services delivered during the shutdown, dating back to October 1, 2025, avoiding revenue gaps and operational backtracking.
Key flexibilities back in effect:
- No geographic or originating site restrictions
- Expanded eligible practitioner types
- FQHC/RHC telehealth authority
- Delayed in-person mental health requirement
- Audio-only telehealth permitted
- Hospice F2F visits via telehealth
- Acute Hospital Care at Home extension
While this extension is a welcome relief, it’s far from sufficient. Our partners need stability and a longer planning runway, and we’ll continue advocating for permanent telehealth policy — or at the very least, a far more substantial long-term extension.
Featured insight: The rise of remote reading in teleradiology
While teleradiology is far from new, its role in modern imaging is evolving. A recent blog post on LocumTenens.com highlights how remote reading has become a critical operational strategy as health systems work to manage ongoing radiologist shortages and escalating imaging volumes.
Advances in technology have made achieving high-quality remote reads seamless across subspecialties, and hospitals are increasingly leveraging teleradiologists in locum tenens roles to stabilize coverage, reduce backlogs and maintain continuity of care. For clinicians, remote reading offers a both flexibility and financial security, making it a draw for trained clinicians and sustainable as a care model.
As imaging demands grow, remote reading remains one of the most dependable and scalable ways to keep radiology services running efficiently.
Understanding APP supervision in multi-state telehealth: Why location matters
One frequently overlooked complexity in telehealth program design is in supervision requirements, which determined by the patient's location rather than the provider's practice state. Here is the current breakdown of practice authority:
- 30 states and territories grant full practice authority to nurse practitioners
- 15 require collaborative agreements
- 11 mandate physician supervision
A nurse practitioner working from a full-authority state must still comply with supervision requirements when treating patients in restricted states. The 2025 Physician Fee Schedule made virtual direct supervision permanent for a narrow subset of services while extending flexibility through December 2025 for most others. The proposed 2026 Physician Fee Schedule would expand this to nearly all incident-to services. However, state boards continue enforcing their own requirements, creating a compliance patchwork. Multi-state programs must navigate varying protocols simultaneously, making robust supervision frameworks essential infrastructure for scalability.
Asynchronous telehealth: The efficiency game-changer you're overlooking
While synchronous video visits dominate telehealth conversations, asynchronous care delivery, which includes store-and-forward consultations, secure messaging and remote data review, is quietly transforming provider efficiency.
Recent research shows asynchronous consultations deliver turnaround times nearly 40% faster than real-time telehealth, with most cases resolved within 72 hours. Thirty-three state Medicaid programs now reimburse for store-and-forward services, making asynchronous telehealth a billable service in the majority of states, and adoption rates have surged 312% since 2020.
From teledermatology achieving 60% cost reductions to ED tele-triage improving throughput, asynchronous models excel in specialty consultations, chronic disease monitoring, and pre-visit assessments. Providers can batch review cases during optimal times rather than having to synchronize schedules with others in real time. For health systems managing provider shortages and seeking to improve efficiency in clinical workflows, asynchronous telehealth represents an underutilized and strategic opportunity.
