Medicare telehealth coverage in 2025 shifted considerably, and the current rules are more stable than they have been at any point since the pandemic. The short answer: telehealth is available, mental health services are permanently protected, and the broader home-visit flexibilities are in place through at least December 31, 2027.
If you or someone you care for relies on virtual visits through Medicare, this guide covers what is covered right now, how the rules evolved across 2025, what mental health and specialist services look like under telehealth, and what to think about when choosing a virtual care provider.
| Topic | Key Facts |
|---|---|
| Current status | Telehealth widely covered through December 31, 2027 |
| Home coverage | Patients can receive telehealth from home for most services |
| Mental health | Permanently covered from home, no geographic restrictions |
| Audio-only visits | Allowed under specific conditions (see below) |
| Cost | 20% of Medicare-approved amount after Part B deductible |
| Medicare Advantage | Often offers broader telehealth than Original Medicare |
| Next policy review | December 31, 2027 expiration of most temporary flexibilities |
How Medicare Telehealth Coverage Evolved Through 2025
To understand where things stand, a brief timeline helps.
Before March 2020, Medicare telehealth came with strict limits. Patients had to be in a designated rural area, at an approved facility, and use only approved platforms. Reimbursement was lower than for in-person visits, and physicians had to provide telehealth from their practice location. According to a peer-reviewed review published in Primary Care: Clinics in Office Practice (Shaver, 2022), as of 2018 roughly 76% of US hospital systems used some form of telemedicine, but usage remained concentrated in radiology, psychiatry, and cardiology, and patients who could access it still tended to be white, younger, and from higher-income households.
When COVID-19 arrived, Congress removed most of those restrictions through the CARES Act and CMS emergency waivers. Geographic limits were lifted. Patients could receive telehealth from home. Audio-only phone visits became reimbursable. The same Shaver (2022) review noted that telemedicine encounters increased 766% in the first three months of the pandemic alone, and that approximately 20% of all US health care visits in 2020 were conducted by telemedicine, based on Doximity claims data covering roughly 80% of the US physician workforce.
Those emergency flexibilities were always intended as temporary measures. Congress extended them multiple times as the pandemic continued, and by December 2024, stakeholders were watching a potential coverage gap approaching at year-end. Here is what actually happened:
- December 21, 2024: President Biden signed the American Relief Act, 2025, extending most telehealth flexibilities through March 31, 2025, including geographic waivers and the ability to receive services from home.
- October 1, 2025: A federal government shutdown caused a lapse in Medicare telehealth coverage for most non-mental-health services. According to KFF Health Policy, this created uncertainty for both providers and beneficiaries.
- November 12, 2025: Coverage was retroactively reinstated, making telehealth visits during the lapse period eligible for payment. Mental health services had remained covered throughout.
- Late 2025 into 2026: The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2026 extended the majority of Medicare telehealth flexibilities through December 31, 2027, providing the longest legislative window of stability since the pandemic-era expansions began.
The HHS Telehealth Policy page confirms: Medicare patients can receive telehealth services from home for non-behavioral health services through December 31, 2027, with no geographic restrictions during that period.
What Medicare Covers for Telehealth Right Now
According to Medicare.gov, telehealth covers services that patients receive from a health care provider located somewhere else using audio and video technology, or in certain cases audio-only communication. Through December 31, 2027, Medicare covers telehealth services received from anywhere in the United States, including the patient's home.
Covered categories include:
- Standard office visits and consultations
- Mental and behavioral health services (permanent, covered in the section below)
- Substance use disorder treatment
- Monthly end-stage renal disease (ESRD) visits for home dialysis
- Acute stroke evaluation
- Nutrition therapy
- Caregiver training services (added to the covered services list starting 2025)
- Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) counseling and safety planning interventions
Services are added to or removed from the CMS Medicare Telehealth Services List on an annual basis through the Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) rulemaking process.
"Telehealth care can be equivalent to in-person care for certain acute and chronic conditions." -- Shaver JM. The State of Telehealth Before and After the COVID-19 Pandemic. Prim Care Clin Office Pract. 2022;49:517-530
What Medicare Permanently Covers for Mental Health Telehealth
Mental health is where Medicare telehealth has the most durable, patient-friendly rules, and where the situation is clearest for anyone planning their care.
The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 permanently removed geographic and originating site restrictions for any telehealth service used to diagnose, evaluate, or treat a mental health disorder. According to KFF, Medicare beneficiaries may permanently receive behavioral health services from their homes, in both urban and rural areas, even after the 2027 temporary flexibilities expire.
Key permanent rules for mental health telehealth in Medicare:
- Home coverage is permanent. Patients can receive mental health telehealth from home regardless of where they live, urban or rural.
- No geographic restrictions. These were removed permanently for behavioral health, not just through 2027.
- Audio-only is permanently allowed. Patients who cannot or do not consent to video technology can receive mental health telehealth by phone. CMS confirmed in the CY 2025 PFS Final Rule that the definition of "interactive telecommunications system" was permanently updated to include audio-only for home-based patients when the provider is capable of video but the patient is not or opts out.
- Marriage and family therapists and mental health counselors can permanently serve as Medicare distant site providers, a change added in 2024.
- In-person visit requirement is waived through December 31, 2027. Under permanent law, patients will eventually need an in-person mental health visit within six months before starting telehealth, and annually thereafter. HHS Telehealth policy guidance confirms this requirement is waived through the end of 2027.
For patients managing depression, anxiety, PTSD, or substance use disorders, these protections represent genuine, lasting access to care.
Can Medicare Cover Pulmonary Rehab and Other Specialist Services?
This is a question many patients and caregivers ask, and the answer depends on the service.
Pulmonary rehabilitation: Medicare covers pulmonary rehabilitation for patients with moderate-to-severe COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease). However, whether pulmonary rehab can be delivered via telehealth depends on CMS's current Telehealth Services List and program-specific coverage rules. According to CMS, pulmonary rehabilitation is not currently listed as a covered telehealth service under Medicare fee-for-service, meaning the program generally requires in-person attendance. Patients and providers should verify the current status of this coverage directly with their Medicare plan or Medicare Administrative Contractor before scheduling. A doctor can advise on whether a virtual or in-person pulmonary rehab program is appropriate for an individual's clinical situation.
Other specialist telehealth: The Shaver (2022) review found that physicians treating chronic disease, including those in endocrinology, gastroenterology, rheumatology, nephrology, cardiology, and psychiatry, were the most likely to be using telehealth actively. Dermatology, orthopedic surgery, and optometry showed lower telehealth adoption rates, though tele-dermatology in particular has demonstrated value for initial triage and follow-up once a diagnosis is established.
For chronic disease management broadly, the same review noted that pharmacist-delivered telemedicine care for conditions including hypertension, diabetes, heart failure, depression, and COPD showed positive outcomes in 23 out of 34 studies reviewed, with only one study reporting any negative outcome for the telemedicine group.
If you are managing a chronic condition and want to understand whether telehealth care is appropriate, finding a doctor who accepts Medicare and offers virtual visits is a practical first step.
What Telehealth Costs Under Medicare
According to Medicare.gov, after meeting the Part B deductible, Medicare patients pay 20% of the Medicare-approved amount for most telehealth services, the same cost-sharing that applies to in-person visits.
One nuance matters for patients receiving care from home: KFF reports that Medicare pays providers at a higher rate for telehealth services delivered to beneficiaries in their homes, compared to patients located at a separate clinical setting such as a rural health clinic. This higher rate reflects the overhead of practices that serve significant telehealth volumes while maintaining office capacity.
Cost-sharing at a glance:
| Situation | What the Patient Pays |
|---|---|
| Telehealth from home | 20% of Medicare-approved amount (after Part B deductible) |
| Telehealth at a facility | 20% of Medicare-approved amount (lower facility rate) |
| Medicare Advantage plan | Varies by plan, often lower cost-sharing |
| Medicare Supplement / Medigap | Follows Original Medicare rules |
Patients whose provider waives cost-sharing for federal program beneficiaries may pay less, but providers are not universally required to do so.
Original Medicare vs. Medicare Advantage: The Telehealth Difference
Original Medicare and Medicare Advantage plans follow different rules for telehealth, and the difference can be significant.
Original Medicare follows CMS rules directly. The coverage described in this article, home visits through 2027, permanent mental health protections, and 20% cost-sharing, applies to Original Medicare (Parts A and B).
Medicare Advantage plans are private insurance plans contracted with Medicare. According to Medicare.gov, Medicare Advantage plans often include expanded telehealth benefits beyond basic Original Medicare coverage, including access to dedicated telehealth platforms, lower cost-sharing, and services not covered under Original Medicare.
Medicare Supplement (Medigap) plans work alongside Original Medicare. They help cover deductibles and coinsurance but generally mirror Original Medicare's coverage decisions. According to Medicare.gov, Medigap plans follow Original Medicare's coverage rules, which means beneficiaries enrolled in a Supplement plan are directly exposed to federal telehealth policy changes in the same way Original Medicare enrollees are.
Comparing plans based on telehealth benefits is worth doing before enrollment or during the annual Medicare Open Enrollment period (October 15 to December 7 each year).
What to Know Before Choosing a Virtual Care Provider
Telehealth's expansion has brought a wide range of provider options, from large health systems to direct-to-consumer telehealth companies to integrated platforms that blend in-person and virtual care. A few considerations are worth keeping in mind.
Continuity matters. The Shaver (2022) review found meaningful differences between telehealth delivered within an integrated health system, where physicians knew patients, had access to consistent records, and could arrange follow-up, and direct-to-consumer models where a patient sees a different clinician each time. In large integrated system studies of over one million visits, rates of prescribing, imaging, and short-term emergency department use did not differ between telehealth and in-person visits. In direct-to-consumer settings, some studies found higher rates of inappropriate antibiotic prescribing and lower rates of appropriate diagnostic testing.
Scheduled, relationship-based care outperforms reactive models. The same review found that a scheduled model of care, where patients see the same provider at consistent intervals, produced the strongest outcomes in chronic disease management, whether delivered in person or virtually.
Check Medicare acceptance before booking. Not all telehealth providers accept Medicare. Verifying this upfront prevents billing surprises. Momentary Lab's provider directory allows patients to search for doctors who accept Medicare and offer virtual care options.
Audio-only is an option when video is not feasible. Patients who lack a reliable internet connection, are not comfortable with video technology, or simply prefer a phone call can receive Medicare-covered telehealth by audio-only for most services through 2027, and permanently for mental health.
"Systems-level interventions are needed to solidify telemedicine as a fixture in American health care and ensure more equitable access to it, including more universal service and payment parity, expanded broadband and digital technology access to patients and practices, and the allowance of audio-only telemedicine visits as an acceptable alternative to video." -- Shaver JM. The State of Telehealth Before and After the COVID-19 Pandemic. Prim Care Clin Office Pract. 2022;49:517-530
Momentary Lab is building a virtual primary care option for older adults and their caregivers navigating Medicare. The platform is not yet accepting patients, but if you would like to be notified when it becomes available, you can join the waitlist here.
What's Coming: Telehealth Policy Through 2027 and Beyond
The December 31, 2027 date is the next major policy marker for Medicare telehealth. At that point, absent new legislation, most temporary flexibilities, including home coverage for non-mental health services and the waiver of geographic restrictions, would revert to pre-pandemic rules.
There is bipartisan support for permanent expansion. According to KFF, the CONNECT for Health Act of 2025, introduced by Senator Schatz, would permanently implement several key pandemic-era telehealth flexibilities, including removal of geographic and originating site requirements and broad expansion of eligible providers. As of early 2026, it had not been scheduled for a vote. KFF also notes that CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz has voiced support for telehealth and other health technologies to increase access to care and support chronic disease treatment.
According to the American Hospital Association, the AHA continues to urge Congress, CMS, and the DEA to permanently adopt telehealth policies rather than continuing to operate through a cycle of short-term extensions.
For beneficiaries planning ahead: the current window of coverage through 2027 is the most stable period for Medicare telehealth since the pandemic began. Using tools like AI-assisted healthcare navigation can help patients find the right virtual care options now, while those options remain broadly available.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Medicare no longer paying for telehealth in 2025?
No. Medicare is actively paying for telehealth in 2025. A lapse occurred during the federal government shutdown that began October 1, 2025, but coverage was retroactively reinstated on November 12, 2025. The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2026 then extended most telehealth flexibilities through December 31, 2027. CMS confirms that Medicare patients can receive telehealth services from home through at least the end of 2027.
How do I bill Medicare for telehealth services?
Providers billing Medicare for telehealth services use the standard Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) codes for the service delivered, with modifiers to indicate the telehealth modality. Place of Service (POS) code 02 is used when the patient is not at home, and POS code 10 is used when the patient is in their home, with the latter reimbursed at the higher non-facility rate. CMS billing guidance and the annual Physician Fee Schedule Final Rule govern specific code requirements. A certified medical coder or billing specialist can advise on the correct codes for a specific practice setting.
Is the telehealth modifier 95 or GT?
Both modifiers exist but are used in different contexts. Modifier GT ("via interactive audio and video telecommunications systems") is used for Medicare fee-for-service telehealth billing. Modifier 95 is primarily used for commercial insurance and some Medicaid programs. For Medicare claims, GT is the correct modifier for real-time audio-video telehealth, while modifier GQ applies to asynchronous (store-and-forward) telehealth in approved demonstration projects. Because coding rules update annually, providers should verify current modifier requirements against the CMS Physician Fee Schedule and any applicable MAC (Medicare Administrative Contractor) guidance.
How do you bill telehealth visits in 2025?
Billing a Medicare telehealth visit in 2025 requires: (1) the service must be on the Medicare Telehealth Services List; (2) the correct CPT or HCPCS code for the service must be used; (3) the appropriate place of service code (02 or 10) must be included; (4) the telehealth modifier (GT for audio-video, or the applicable audio-only modifier) must be appended; and (5) the claim must meet all standard Medicare billing requirements. Audio-only services carry specific conditions, as the provider must be capable of offering video but the patient cannot use or does not consent to video technology. Practices should consult their Medicare Administrative Contractor and the CMS Telehealth FAQ for the most current guidance.
Does Medicare cover telehealth for mental health?
Yes, and with the strongest protections of any telehealth category. Mental health telehealth is permanently covered from any location in the US, including the patient's home. There are no geographic restrictions, audio-only is permanently permitted, and the in-person visit requirement is waived through December 31, 2027. According to HHS, marriage and family therapists and mental health counselors are permanently eligible to serve as Medicare distant site providers.
Can telehealth pulmonary rehabilitation services be covered by Medicare?
Medicare covers pulmonary rehabilitation for eligible COPD patients, but the program generally requires in-person attendance and is not currently listed as a covered telehealth service under Medicare fee-for-service. Patients and providers should verify the current status of telehealth coverage for this service directly with their Medicare plan or Medicare Administrative Contractor before scheduling. A doctor can advise on whether an in-person or virtual program is clinically appropriate for an individual case.
Will Congress extend telehealth in 2025 and beyond?
Congress has already acted. As of early 2026, most Medicare telehealth flexibilities are extended through December 31, 2027, through the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2026. Whether Congress will make these changes permanent beyond 2027 remains an open legislative question. The CONNECT for Health Act of 2025 would do so, but has not yet come to a vote. Both parties have historically supported telehealth extension.
