{"id":443592,"date":"2025-12-13T02:38:20","date_gmt":"2025-12-13T02:38:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/443592\/"},"modified":"2025-12-13T02:38:20","modified_gmt":"2025-12-13T02:38:20","slug":"medicare-is-ending-this-important-service-in-2026-what-recipients-need-to-know","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/443592\/","title":{"rendered":"Medicare is ending this important service in 2026: What recipients need to know"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"MLZ7BLOWCNHJNOQODMJPHCWSYU\">Nearly <a href=\"https:\/\/data.cms.gov\/summary-statistics-on-beneficiary-enrollment\/medicare-and-medicaid-reports\/medicare-monthly-enrollment\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/data.cms.gov\/summary-statistics-on-beneficiary-enrollment\/medicare-and-medicaid-reports\/medicare-monthly-enrollment\">70 million Americans<\/a> rely on Medicare for healthcare coverage \u2014 90% of which are people aged 65 years and older. <\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"M5SOY2TKJZBLRMU546GAAUIFSM\">During the COVID-19 pandemic, Medicare expanded telehealth coverage so beneficiaries could see doctors, therapists, and other practitioners from home without traveling to a healthcare facility.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"H7ZWKD52D5HSBFCKH44PI6IOR4\">But soon, that convenience will come to an end. <\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"K7T3C3NKZZCRNKSIJNU6EWFO6A\">The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services recently updated its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cms.gov\/newsroom\/fact-sheets\/medicare-telemedicine-health-care-provider-fact-sheet\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.cms.gov\/newsroom\/fact-sheets\/medicare-telemedicine-health-care-provider-fact-sheet\">Telehealth FAQ for FY 2026<\/a>, confirming that many pandemic-era telehealth flexibilities will end on Jan. 30, 2026, unless Congress intervenes. <\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"CBEQZFNMEBF75CP3HW2XXDGCAQ\">For now, beneficiaries can continue telehealth visits from home, but after Jan. 31, 2026, CMS will revert to pre-pandemic rules:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"article__unordered-list\">\n<li id=\"H76UUJZJ5RHL5IEVSGT4OYMZOE\">Medicare beneficiaries will generally need to be in a medical facility in a rural area to qualify for telehealth coverage.<\/li>\n<li id=\"YQYMXRYNDJDQTEZPEDLHZIUWTM\">Some practitioners will lose Medicare telehealth privileges, including physical therapists, occupational therapists, speech-language pathologists, and audiologists, <\/li>\n<li id=\"KFNNBQ2JUBHWJJXD3BSSUS6QAQ\">Other telehealth home services and payment rules will also return to stricter limits.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"CTG6LJ5SC5HATHUKSXWT3S73JE\">Telehealth flexibility has allowed Medicare recipients to meet with practitioners for virtual care from the comfort of wherever they are for nearly six years. <\/p>\n<p class=\"article__paragraph article__paragraph--left\" id=\"WY3DZ45KH5GW7BBXZA3TZA6PWE\">With the flexibilities set to expire, many patients and clinicians may need to plan for in-person visits or alternative care arrangements starting in 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nearly 70 million Americans rely on Medicare for healthcare coverage \u2014 90% of which are people aged 65&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":443593,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[210,1141,3168,1142,16990,16991,11825,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-443592","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health-care","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-health-care","10":"tag-health-insurance","11":"tag-healthcare","12":"tag-medical-debt","13":"tag-open-enrollment","14":"tag-prescription-drugs","15":"tag-united-states","16":"tag-unitedstates","17":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115709942864853820","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/443592","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=443592"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/443592\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/443593"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=443592"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=443592"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=443592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}