Telemental Health Care Access Act of 2025
Summary
What This Bill Does
The Telemental Health Care Access Act amends Medicare telehealth rules in Social Security Act section 1834(m)(7). It replaces the prior mental health services wording with mental and behavioral health services furnished through telehealth, adds behavioral health services alongside diagnosis, evaluation, or treatment of a mental health disorder, and strikes the subparagraph that imposed an in-person visit condition. The amendments take effect as if included in section 123 of division CC of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021. The practical effect is to preserve or restore Medicare access to telemental and behavioral health services without the removed in-person prerequisite.
Who Benefits and How
Medicare beneficiaries seeking mental health care benefit from telehealth coverage without the struck in-person visit condition. Medicare beneficiaries seeking behavioral health care benefit because behavioral health services are expressly included. Telemental health providers benefit from reduced Medicare access restrictions. Rural Medicare patients benefit if telehealth remains available despite geographic or provider access barriers.
Who Bears the Burden and How
CMS telehealth policy staff must update Medicare rules as if the change had been included in the 2021 CAA. Medicare administrative contractors must process claims without the removed in-person condition. Medicare trust funds may face higher telehealth utilization costs. In-person behavioral health clinics may face more competition from telehealth providers.
Key Provisions
- Expands Medicare telehealth wording to mental and behavioral health services.
- Adds behavioral health services to the covered telehealth category.
- Repeals the in-person visit condition for covered mental health telehealth services.
- Applies the change as if enacted in the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021.
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
Makes Medicare telehealth coverage for mental and behavioral health services retroactive to the 2021 CAA telehealth provision by removing the in-person visit condition and expanding the rule to behavioral health services, so mental and behavioral health telehealth is not subject to the struck subparagraph's geographic and visit restrictions.
Key Policy Areas
Medicare, Telehealth, Mental Health
Primary Purpose
Makes Medicare telehealth coverage for mental and behavioral health services retroactive to the 2021 CAA telehealth provision by removing the in-person visit condition and expanding the rule to behavioral health services, so mental and behavioral health telehealth is not subject to the struck subparagraph's geographic and visit restrictions.
Policy Domains
Resolution provisions
Identified Gains
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation- Medicare mental health patients
- Medicare behavioral health patients
- Telemental health providers
- Rural Medicare patients
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation
Identified Costs
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation- CMS telehealth policy staff
- Medicare administrative contractors
- Medicare trust funds
- In-person behavioral health clinics
Contextual inference, no direct clause citation
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
In CommitteeMs. Matsui (for herself and Mr. Balderson) introduced the following …
Referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in …
Introduced in House
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology