March 6, 2025

The Clinical Social Work Association is continuing to monitor the threat to continuation of telemental health coverage that we communicated to you about on February 25th and 28th. However, patients may not be aware that there is a chance that continued coverage of telemental health by Medicare and commercial insurers is at risk. The Clinical Social Work Association would encourage clinicians to consider asking clients to share their concerns with their elected officials. We are offering this message and legislative alert wording, included below, as a way to educate patients about letting members of Congress and state legislators know that this is something they oppose.

Here is a summary of what could happen if Congress does not acts in different ways to extend telemental health by March 31, 2025.

Possible Congressional Actions

Congress could extend telemental health through a stand-alone bill. This would achieve the goal of allowing insurance payments to continue but seems very unlikely.

Congress could attach telemental health to other bills that are moving, the most likely one being the Congressional Resolution, which will be needed to pass a budget to keep the government running as of March 14. This is a possibility.

Congress will address continuing coverage of telemental health after the March 31 deadline, but there will be a delay of a few weeks, which may cover the time when there was no coverage. This is a possibility but would cause confusion and uncertainty.

Congress will do nothing and there be no Medicare or private insurance coverage of telemental health. This is unlikely.

LEGISLATIVE ALERT

It is a good time to let your members of Congress know that you and your patients want a prompt continuation of telemental health in Medicare. Here is a template your patients can use: “I am a constituent who is concerned about the lack of Medicare telemental health coverage after March 31, 2025. It will be very harmful to people like me who rely on telemental health to resolve the mental health and/or substance use problems I face. I have received excellent care using telemental health and would be harmed if it ended. Additionally, it would be impossible for me to meet with my clinical social worker in person, so I ask that the requirement that I meet with mental health clinicians in person every 6 or 12 months be eliminated. I urge you to extend Medicare telemental health coverage permanently as soon as possible.” Ask your patients to send their messages to their senators and representative at https://www.congress.gov/contact-us. If you haven’t already, when you send a message to your Senators and Representative, identify yourself as a Clinical Social Worker and let them know how providing telehealth has impacted your patients positively, and how destructive losing that treatment could be to their constituents.

CSWA hopes this is helpful to patients being seen virtually currently or in the future. Thanks to you and your patients for help with this crucial issue.

Contact: Laura Groshong, LICSW, CSWA Director of Policy and Practice at lwgroshong@clinicalsocialworkassociation.org