Compliance Stuff

Providers that rely on telehealth for Medicare patients can continue to do so as a result of an extension of the Medicare telehealth rules that were originally implemented during the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (“COVID”). On February 3, 2026, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2026, H.R. 7148 was signed into law and, among other features, extends key components of the emergency telehealth requirements and will continue to allow for increased provider eligibility, remote care from home and relaxed site-of-service, all rules upon which providers have extensively relied since COVID . CMS extended these rules in order to provide greater flexibility and remote health care access. Providers should be aware that this extension only will last through December 31, 2027, unless Congress puts a permanent solution in place. [ View source .] Source(s): Medicare Telehealth Expansion Continues Under New Federal Extension | JD Supra . (2026). JD Supra. https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/medicare...

While the One Big Beautiful Bill Act made headlines for tax and spending cuts, it also contains significant changes to the federal government’s treatment of COVID era Employee Retention Tax Credit (ERC) claims — many of which are still pending with the IRS. Taxpayers and ERC advisers need to understand these changes, and how they could impact pending claims and potential liability. Congress designed the ERC to encourage businesses to retain employees during the COVID-19 pandemic. The CARES Act allowed certain employers to receive a tax credit for the first quarter of 2020 through the second quarter of 2021 . The American Rescue Plan (ARPA), passed in March 2021, extended the ERC (with certain restrictions) through the fourth quarter of 2021. The ERC’s complexity, combined with widespread marketing by promoters, created a backlog of questionable claims that the IRS is still struggling to review. As of August 2024, the IRS had disallowed 28,000 claims with an estimated worth of approxim...