Telehealth Access for Tribal Communities Act of 2025
The Telehealth Access for Tribal Communities Act of 2025 would make permanent certain Medicare telehealth flexibilities specifically for Indian health programs (IHPs) and urban Indian organizations. The bill creates a special rule to broaden where a telehealth visit can originate (originating site) for services delivered by IHPs/UIOs or their staff, so that the patient’s location can be any site in the United States, including the patient’s home, starting April 1, 2025. It also establishes a separate rule to ensure Medicare coverage and payment for audio-only telehealth services furnished after the same date by IHPs/UIOs or their staff, for services identified by HCPCS codes that were not subject to certain regulatory requirements during the COVID-19 emergency period. In short, the bill codifies ongoing telehealth flexibilities for tribal health programs, expanding access and payment options for telehealth (including audio-only) within these programs. The intended effect is to improve access to care for American Indian and Alaska Native populations served by tribal and urban Indian health programs, particularly in rural or remote areas, while ensuring Medicare continues to cover and pay for these special telehealth services.
Key Points
- 1Makes permanent certain Medicare telehealth flexibilities for telehealth services furnished by Indian health programs and urban Indian organizations.
- 2Special rule for origin sites: for telehealth services furnished by IHPs/UIOs (or their physicians/practitioners) to eligible individuals, the originating site includes any site in the United States where the patient is located at the time of service, including the patient’s home (effective for services furnished on or after April 1, 2025).
- 3Special rule for audio-only telehealth: Medicare coverage and payment shall apply for certain telehealth services identified by HCPCS codes (as of enactment) that are furnished via audio-only communications by IHPs/UIOs or their staff after April 1, 2025. These are telehealth services that were not subject to certain emergency-period regulatory requirements.
- 4Scope of providers and entities: applies to Indian health programs (as defined in the Indian Health Care Improvement Act) and urban Indian organizations, including physicians or practitioners employed by or under contract with such programs or organizations.
- 5Effective framing: the changes apply to services identified and coded in a way that acknowledges the emergency-period flexibility and the ongoing need for tribal health access, with a focus on permanence of these flexibilities.