Partial Government Shutdown is Increasingly Likely, Including a Lapse in Telehealth Flexibilities
On January 20, Congressional leaders announced an agreement had been struck on the remaining appropriations bills and health extenders, including telehealth provisions. The text of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2026, contains many measures relevant to the care at home community.
Sec 6101: Streamlined enrollment process for eligible out-of-state providers under Medicaid and CHIP
Sec. 6102. Removing certain age restrictions on Medicaid eligibility for working adults with disabilities
Sec 6103: Medicaid State plan requirement for determining residency and coverage for military families
Sec 6207: Extension of funding for Medicare hospice surveys
Sec 6209: Extension of Certain Telehealth Flexibilities
Sec 6218: Extension of adjustment to calculation of hospice cap amount under Medicare
However, as of today, the U.S. government is at an elevated risk of a partial shutdown. The agreement reached last week (noted above), which included the remaining appropriations bills and health extenders, including telehealth provisions, is now unlikely to pass the Senate this week. If an alternative agreement is not reached, government funding and telehealth flexibilities end on January 30. Therefore, we urge home health agencies and hospices to prepare for the telehealth flexibilities to end on January 30.
For providers, this may mean reviewing all the F2F encounter due dates within the hospice F2F encounter timeframe, which is 30 days prior to the third or subsequent benefit period. If the due date falls within the 30-day period after January 30 (March 1) and the hospice wishes to utilize telehealth for the encounter, organizations may want to have it completed no later than January 30.
The F2F encounter due date may be more difficult to anticipate in home health. However, if an agency is aware that an encounter will be needed prior to the home health encounter timeframe – 90 days before or 30 days after the start of care – and the physician/allowed practitioner intends to utilize telehealth to complete the encounter, the agency may want to ensure the physician/allowed practitioner and patient are aware of the expiration date of telehealth flexibilities so they can plan accordingly.
We will update members with any new information that becomes available.
