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With funding restored after a lengthy government shutdown and some other key successes, 2025 proved to be a net positive year for telehealth, acute hospital at home programs and other virtual care services, says Kyle Zebley, CEO of the American Telemedicine Association and executive director of ATA Action.
While bipartisan consensus and marketplace expectations have fueled virtual care's staying power, Medicare telehealth waivers are set to expire, this time on Jan. 30. ATA is again urging lawmakers to act swiftly to avoid another lapse in telehealth services and make the flexibilities permanent.
"There is a great deal of resiliency," said Zebley in this week's episode of HIMSSCast. "I think that's because of the lived experience of what telehealth has been in the Medicare program over the last six years, which is always uncertain. And yet it always finds a way to come back."
This year, ATA – an organization Zebley noted engages with stakeholders far beyond telehealth – plans to promote adoption of its new framework for AI in healthcare and use its strength to transform healthcare for the better.
"In terms of technology and healthcare, in terms of virtual care, digitally enabled care and AI in healthcare and in terms of connected devices, we represent a very broad swath of organizations," he said.
In this episode, Zebley address all this and more – including some takeaways from his recent public conversation with Dr. Mehmet Oz, administrator of the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
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Talking points:
- Lapses in telehealth subsidies and their effects on providers
- Permanence of coverage in High Deductible Health Plans-Health Savings Accounts
- Increased access to care through remote prescribing of controlled substances
- Tech-positive healthcare policy baked into state law and innovative federal programs
- ATA as a catalyst for change
- Zebley's goals at HIMSS26 Global Health Conference & Exhibition, scheduled for March 9-12 in Las Vegas
More about this episode:
Could 2026 bring permanent telemedicine policy? One physician thinks so
2026 House spending bill proposes 2-year telehealth and 5-year hospital-at-home waiver extensions
New ATA AI policy framework champions accountability, performance monitoring
Where telehealth stands in the shutdown: 'Every day that goes by, it's worse'
New CMS policy holds changes for how telehealth providers bill for care
