---
title: "Psych News Alert: Congress Extends Telehealth Flexibilities for Medicare Beneficiaries"
description: Key telehealth service flexibilities will be extended for Medicare beneficiaries until March 31, 2025, as part of the American Relief Act ,...
image: https://alert.psychnews.org/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/telehealth_video_iStock-1426062379-Jun-24-2025-07-49-35-8203-PM.jpg
---

 1/3/25 12:00 AM

# Congress Extends Telehealth Flexibilities for Medicare Beneficiaries

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Key telehealth service flexibilities will be extended for Medicare beneficiaries until March 31, 2025, as part of the [American Relief Act](https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/10545), signed by President Biden on December 21. The flexibilities originated in March 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and have been temporarily extended several times. The Relief Act authorizes the extension of a number of federal services as well as federal relief to victims of natural disasters.

As part of the Relief Act, Medicare beneficiaries can continue to receive telehealth services from any location, including their homes. Additionally, the bill extends the waiver of the requirement for an initial in-person visit prior to a telemental health visit and also continues the extension of telehealth services to federally qualified health centers and rural health centers.

These temporary extensions for Medicare beneficiaries follow on the heels of the [decision](https://www.dea.gov/documents/2024/2024-11/2024-11-15/dea-and-hhs-extend-telemedicine-flexibilities-through-2025) by the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)—announced in November—to extend for the third time flexibilities for the prescribing of controlled medications, effective through December 31, 2025. Those flexibilities authorize qualified health professionals to prescribe Schedule II-V controlled medications via telemedicine, including Schedule III-V narcotic-controlled medications approved by the Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of opioid use disorder via audio-only telemedicine encounters.

The DEA and HHS are in the process of developing final telemedicine regulations but sought the latest out of a need for additional time to create a longer-term set of rules for teleprescribing while preventing unnecessary disruptions in care.

For up-to-date information about telehealth rules and regulations, visit the [APA telehealth blog](https://www.psychiatry.org/psychiatrists/practice/telepsychiatry/blog).

For related information, see the *Psychiatric News* article “[DEA, HHS Announce Third Extension of Pandemic Telehealth Prescribing Flexibilities](https://psychiatryonline.org/doi/10.1176/appi.pn.2025.01.1.23).”

---

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[Medicare](https://alert.psychnews.org/tag/medicare), [pandemic](https://alert.psychnews.org/tag/pandemic), [telemedicine](https://alert.psychnews.org/tag/telemedicine), [telehealth](https://alert.psychnews.org/tag/telehealth)

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## [DEA, HHS Issue Third Extension of Pandemic Telehealth Prescribing Flexibilities](https://alert.psychnews.org/2024/11/dea-hhs-issue-third-extension-of.html)

![Picture of Psychiatric News Alert](https://alert.psychnews.org/hs-fs/hubfs/Psych%20News%20Email%20Banners/PN-Blue-Box_rgb.png?width=50&name=PN-Blue-Box_rgb.png) [Psychiatric News Alert](https://alert.psychnews.org/author/psychiatric-news-alert) 

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