ICYMI: After Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher Led Bipartisan Effort to Expand Coverage of Telehealth Services, CMS Changes Rules to Allow Providers to Provide Vital Services to Medicare Patients

Press Release

Dear Secretary Azar:

We write to request that the Department of Health and Human Services use the authority that
Congress granted within the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act
(Public Law 116-136) to expand the types of providers eligible to furnish telehealth services
under Medicare during the COVID-19 pandemic to include physical therapy practitioners,
occupational therapy practitioners, speech language pathologists (SLPs), and audiologists.
While the Medicare Interim Final Rule (CMS-1744-IFC) released March 30, 2020, added
reimbursement codes for care commonly provided by these clinicians to the list of eligible
Medicare telehealth services, it did not include this group in the eligible provider list.

Section 3703 of the CARES Act grants the Secretary the authority to waive certain restrictions
for providers to furnish telehealth services during a national public health emergency. CMS has
yet to issue a waiver allowing physical and occupational therapists, SLPs, and audiologists to be
reimbursed for services under the Medicare telehealth benefit. In the Interim Final Rule, the
agency acknowledges the outsized role these professionals hold in delivering medically necessary therapeutic care, stating, "the majority of the [therapy] codes are furnished over 90
percent of the time by therapy professionals." Precluding therapy professionals from Medicare
telehealth reimbursement would lead to a significant lack of access for beneficiaries relying on
rehabilitative, habilitative, and audiologic care that is critical to living independently,
participating in activities of daily living and maintaining overall positive health and well-being.

Medicare beneficiaries are some of the most vulnerable for contracting the Coronavirus Disease
2019 (COVID-19). Current stay at home orders and social distancing protocols are leaving many
beneficiaries with underlying conditions without access to the services they need. We cannot
continue to put older and health compromised Medicare beneficiaries at risk by forcing them to
choose between forgoing regular care or risking exposure to the virus.

By expanding Medicare to include therapy professionals as clinicians eligible to provide therapy
services via telehealth during the COVID-19 pandemic, CMS will provide Medicare
beneficiaries access to vital services already being provided to beneficiaries of major private
insurers and Medicaid state plans.

We must do all we can to ensure that the American people can continue to receive the care that
they need, while also practicing the necessary social distancing to remain safe and healthy during
the COVID-19 pandemic. Congress has given HHS the additional authorities necessary to
broaden telehealth services that allow Medicare beneficiaries to stay at home, and we urge you to
use them by expanding the types of providers eligible to furnish telehealth services for the
duration of the COVID-19 public health emergency to include physical therapy practitioners,
occupational therapy practitioners, speech language pathologists (SLPs), and audiologists

Thank you for your consideration of this request.