House Passes Bill to Extend Home Care Program; DEA Continues Telemedicine Waiver
The U.S. House of Representatives has recently approved a bill that proposes a five-year extension of the CMS Acute Hospital Care at Home (AHCaH) waiver, moving it on to the Senate for its consideration. This extension would push the Medicare reimbursement deadline from 2020 to 2030 and require the Health and Human Services Secretary to assess the program and report back to Congress by September 30, 2028.
Supporters of this initiative celebrate it as evidence that the program, which allows hospitals to deliver care at home through in-person visits and digital health, is effective. Alexis Apple, from the American Telemedicine Association, expressed that this extension will continue providing Medicare beneficiaries with access to a care model that has been shown to reduce complications and shorten recovery times.
In another positive development for telemedicine, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is expected to extend its waiver for virtual prescribing of controlled medications for the fourth time. This extension would be a relief for healthcare providers, especially in the fields of behavioral health and substance abuse treatment. However, further details on the duration of this waiver are still pending.
This situation has long been a challenge for providers. The Ryan Haight Online Pharmacy Consumer Protection Act of 2008 set strict guidelines for virtual prescriptions, requiring an in-person visit before doctors could prescribe medication online. During the pandemic in 2020, the DEA established a temporary waiver to allow for telemedicine prescriptions without this requirement.
Earlier this year, the DEA proposed a new rule to create a registration process for telehealth providers, but advocates criticized it as overly restrictive. Since then, there has been no further action.
Additionally, several other CMS waivers for telehealth have been enacted since 2020. Like the AHCaH waiver, these waivers lapsed during the government shutdown but were subsequently extended until January 30, 2026. Similar bills are being discussed in Congress, but concrete action has yet to be taken.
Organizations like the American Telemedicine Association and the Alliance for Connected Care are advocating for these waivers to become permanent, emphasizing that healthcare providers need clear long-term guidelines to develop effective virtual care strategies.
