Congress Votes to Maintain Telehealth Policy that Disadvantages Safety-Net Providers & Patients
Earlier this month, Congress passed legislation to extend the Medicare telehealth "special payment rule" (G2025), perpetuating a policy that significantly underpays Rural Health Clinics, while continuing to reimburse other Medicare providers at parity, whether they see the patient in person or via telehealth.
This disappointing action unfairly disadvantages RHCs and threatens access to telecommunications care in rural communities.
In major part to NARHC’s consistent advocacy, Congress has introduced several bills this Congress that achieve our telehealth goals, including the CONNECT for Health Act of 2025 (S. 1261 and H.R. 4206), the Telehealth Modernization Act (S. 2709 and H.R. 5081), and the HEALTH Act (H.R. 5496). Notably, the CONNECT for Health Act has gained an unprecedented number of cosponsors: 217 cosponsors in the House and 71 in the Senate.
When the time comes for a telehealth extension however, Congressional leadership simply extends current policy, as opposed to looking at the bipartisan, negotiated legislative text that the various bills above contain.
As we shared on NARHC’s forum, the legislation recently signed extends Medicare telehealth policy (G2025 policy for RHCs) through December 31, 2027, and waves the occasional in-person visit requirement for mental health telehealth until January 1, 2028.
As a reminder, the special payment rule requires RHCs to bill one single code, G2025, which pays one single rate, $97.53, for any and all of the over 280 services that are billable via telehealth. While this rule allows RHCs to serve as distant site providers for telehealth, it ultimately imposes financial limitations on safety-net providers seeking to offer or expand telehealth services to their patients.
Moving forward, NARHC is pursuing a standalone legislative fix to this issue. It is vital that our RHC community members engage with their Members of Congress in support of these efforts.
Please join us in urging Congress to establish full payment parity for RHCs, so that rural, safety-net providers have the resources and incentives needed to invest in telehealth and meet the needs of rural patients. Please click here to message your Members of Congress.
Lastly, there are several other ways you can support NARHC’s telehealth advocacy efforts.
- Complete NARHC’s 2026 Policy Survey to help strengthen RHC program data--especially telehealth data that is critical to advancing full payment parity.
- Register for NARHC’s 2026 Policy Summit and use your voice to advocate for RHCs on Capitol Hill--your real-world experiences with telehealth will help inform policymakers and advance full payment parity.
Thank you in advance for your advocacy!
Sincerely,
Sarah Hohman, Director of Government Affairs
Mo Sullivan, Deputy Director of Government Affairs
