New Stakeholder Letter Urges Congress to Make Long-term Telehealth Fix
WASHINGTON, DC, NOVEMBER 5, 2025 – As the ongoing government shutdown stretches into its second month, ATA Action, the advocacy arm of the American Telemedicine Association, also cautions the looming December 31 deadline for remote prescribing flexibilities, wisely put in place by President Trump during the pandemic, in 2020.
“Despite broad bipartisan support for telehealth, patients and providers are being severely impacted by the lapse of Medicare telehealth flexibilities and the Acute Hospital Care at Home program — and the situation is worsening by the day,” said Kyle Zebley, executive director, ATA Action, and senior vice president, public policy, the ATA. “Compounding this crisis, the ongoing government shutdown has disrupted federal operations just as critical flexibilities for the remote prescribing of controlled substances are set to expire.
“Unless the DEA, HHS, and other federal partners act before year’s end, countless Americans managing mental health, substance use, and chronic conditions could lose access to essential care. President Trump’s leadership put this waiver in place five and a half years ago, and it has been maintained on a bipartisan basis ever since. The administration has the authority to extend it immediately, regardless of the shutdown, to protect patients, providers, and access to lifesaving treatment. We urge Congress and the administration to take swift action to do so and to work with the telehealth community on a permanent, practical, and patient-centered regulatory framework,” Zebley added.
“Every day, patients who rely on telemedicine for opioid use disorder care safely receive essential medicines under the current remote prescribing flexibilities. We’ve seen unprecedented improvement in opioid overdose outcomes as treatment access has expanded under the remote prescribing flexibilities,” noted Brian Clear, MD, FASAM, Chief Medical Officer, Bicycle Health, and member of ATA Action. “Allowing the waivers to expire on December 31 would needlessly disrupt lifesaving treatment for hundreds of thousands of people and risk reversing that progress by cutting off evidence-based care mid-course. The Administration can extend the current flexibilities now so that no one loses care while a permanent solution is still in development.”
Right before leaving office, the Biden Administration released a draft rule establishing a special registration process that would allow providers to apply for DEA approval to prescribe controlled substances via telehealth. ATA Action submitted a comprehensive comment letter in response, expressing overall support for the proposed rule but outlining several critical changes needed to ensure the policy is reasonable and implementable. Another extension before year-end would allow time to bring key stakeholders together to create a suitable telemedicine special registration proposed rule, as recommended by ATA Action.
Stakeholder Letter Urges Congress to Act Immediately
ATA Action, the American Telemedicine Association and over 450 stakeholder organizations sent a letter to Congressional leadership, strongly urging Members of Congress to immediately act on a long-term telehealth fix in its next legislative package to ensure stability and provide clarity for patients, providers, and the health care system as a whole. In the letter, organizations are asking Congress to work with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to reinstate Medicare telehealth access as quickly as possible and ensure retroactive payment for practitioners that are maintaining patient access to critical services during this lapse.
Read the Stakeholder Letter Urging Congress for a Long-term Telehealth Fix.
“Telehealth is one of many areas being negatively affected by the shutdown but could instead be a lifesaving solution to a chronically overburdened health system suffering from escalating provider shortages and too little capacity,” Zebley added. “We thank President Trump and our bipartisan champions in Congress for creating favorable telehealth policies at the beginning of the decade. Now it’s now time to make lasting improvements in healthcare accessibility via telehealth, with patient safety and appropriate access to care as key priorities.”
About ATA Action
ATA Action recognizes that telehealth and virtual care have the potential to transform the healthcare delivery system by improving patient outcomes, enhancing the safety and effectiveness of care, addressing health disparities, and reducing costs. ATA Action is a registered 501c6 entity and an affiliated trade organization of the American Telemedicine Association (ATA).