KZA Alert: Government Shutdown Ends; Medicare Telehealth Flexibilities Restored
On November 13th, 2025, the 43-day federal government shutdown officially ended, and Congress has passed a continuing resolution funding the government through January 30, 2026. For medical practices, this brings a critical update: Medicare telehealth flexibilities have been restored, extended, and made retroactively applicable to services delivered during the shutdown period.
In this KZA Alert, we break down what the continuing resolution means for Medicare providers, including:
- Which pandemic-era telehealth flexibilities are back in effect
- How retroactive coverage applies to claims submitted—or held—after October 1, 2025
- What specialty practices need to know about resuming telehealth services
- Immediate action steps for billing, coding, scheduling, and revenue cycle teams
- Why this extension represents temporary relief—not a permanent policy solution
This fast, focused update is designed to help practice leaders, managers, coders, and billers understand what changed, what actions to take now, and how to prepare for the next potential telehealth policy cliff in early 2026.
KZA Web Alert and links to sources: https://www.kzanow.com/alerts/telehealth-extended
KZA Web Alert and links to sources: https://www.kzanow.com/alerts/telehealth-extended
Creators and Guests
Host
Olivia Wolf
Olivia J. Wolf, MBA, CPC, is a seasoned healthcare executive with more than 25 years of experience across medical coding, revenue cycle, clinical operations, practice administration, and business development.
