On March 14, Congress passed a Continuing Resolution that pushed the expiration date on telehealth flexibilities out to September 2025. The stopgap funding measure extends COVID-era waivers that:
- Allow Medicare patients to receive telehealth services from home
- Remove geographic restrictions related to site-of-service
- Eliminate in-person visit requirements for virtual behavioral health
The protections brought a sigh of relief to patients and healthcare providers, though telehealth has yet to reach a point of permanency. Organizations like the Center for Telehealth & e-Health Law (CTeL) continue to advocate for telehealth as an essential element in modern, equitable care delivery. The policy research institution and others like them argue that the lack of permanent telehealth policies hinders investment in innovative health technologies, potentially compromising advancements in patient care.
Just days before the Continuing Resolution passed, CTeL was on Capitol Hill to host the 2025 Digital Health Tech & AI Showcase, offering Congressional staff an opportunity to see evidence of real-world innovation in telehealth and health AI firsthand. Caregility and roughly two dozen other CTeL member organizations and sponsors were on site to share solutions that ranged from AI-assisted patient safety monitoring to handheld medical screening devices. Vendors and providers alike – including UVA Health, UCSF Health, and Novant, as well as Caregility clinical service partner VirtualAlly, to name a few – came together to promote the benefits of AI and telehealth innovation.
Caregility CNO Susan Kristiniak, MSN, RN, and Chief Experience Officer Pete McLain attended, showcasing Caregility’s computer vision, ambient listening, and radar-based AI capabilities for inpatient and outpatient virtual care. “These digital health tools are helping us overcome key issues in healthcare, from offsetting clinical staff shortages and burnout to elevating patient safety and satisfaction,” said Kristiniak. “We are building a foundation for more efficient, modern workflows that reduce costs and improve access.”
CTeL Executive Director Christa Natoli underscores the long-term economic value of telehealth, noting that “peer-reviewed research shows that telehealth is a cost-effective substitute, not an added expense to the federal budget.” Building on this, McLain highlights the importance of forward-thinking policies: “As healthcare organizations step into the next frontier of innovation, policies related to telehealth and AI will be paramount. We’re proud to support CTeL as champions of health policy that responsibly expands the art of what’s possible in healthcare delivery.”
Caregility would like to congratulate CTeL 2025 Tr“AI”lblazer Award winners Congresswoman Doris Matsui (CA-7) and Dr. Andrew Taylor, Director of Artificial Intelligence for the Department of Emergency Medicine at Yale School of Medicine, for their recognition and support of health policy and responsible AI advancements in healthcare.
To stay on top of breaking news as it relates to telehealth policy, follow CTeL at https://www.ctel.org/breakingnews.
