HHS Renews COVID-19 Public Health Emergency Declaration Through Mid-April 2022

The federal Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) renewed the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) public health emergency (PHE) declaration through April 16, 2022. With this eighth renewal, the PHE has been in effect for two years since beginning on January 31, 2020.

Under the PHE, the Medicare and state Medicaid programs will be able to continue offering services under waivers offering flexibilities to encourage use of telehealth to replace in-person health care services when it is medically appropriate. For Medicare, the flexibilities mean that beneficiaries are able to use telehealth services regardless of where they live or . . .