Telehealth Extensions & 2026 Compliance Priorities: A Compliance Cliffs Update

In this episode of 1st Talk Compliance, Kevin Chmura is joined by Robyn Johns, as they discuss recent updates to their November live webinar, Compliance Cliffs: Navigating Telehealth Waivers and Reimbursement Changes.

Learn how the policy landscape has shifted in recent months—especially around telehealth flexibilities, controlled substance prescribing, and the 2026 CMS payment rules.

 

Kevin Chmura Welcome to 1st Talk Compliance. I’m Kevin Chmura, CEO of Panacea Healthcare Solutions. Today we’re bringing you a timely update on our November live webinar, Compliance Cliffs: Navigating Telehealth Waivers and Reimbursement Changes.

Since that webinar, several policy changes have moved quickly, especially in telehealth flexibilities. Controlled substance prescribing and 2026 CMS payment rules. Before we jump in, just a quick note. 1st Talk Compliance is brought to you by 1st Healthcare Compliance, a part of Panacea Healthcare Solutions. We help healthcare organizations strengthen their compliance programs with practical education tools and compliance management support. So teams can reduce risk, keep pace with regulatory change and operate with confidence.

Now I’m pleased to welcome back Robyn Johns from Med USA.

Robyn, thanks for coming back.

Robyn Johns Thanks, Kevin. I’m happy to be here.

Kevin Chmura Great. So, let’s jump in. So, in November on the webinar, we spent a lot of time on what people were calling the telehealth cliff, which was creating a tremendous amount of uncertainty on whether flexibilities would expire. Can you catch us up on what the status is now?

Robyn Johns Yeah. The major update is that the spending package released on January 20th includes extensions of the telehealth flexibilities all the way through December 31st of 2027.

Kevin Chmura So that’s a pretty meaningful runway. That’s great, but I guess doesn’t eliminate compliance obligations, but it is reducing near-term uncertainty which give everybody some time to standardize workflows. So, it’s in the news, but maybe you could tell. So, what’s in the spending package at a high level and what should healthcare leaders like us be paying attention to?

Robyn Johns Right. So, it was the one from the 20th was a $1.2 trillion spending package released by the House Appropriations Committee and it was just passed yesterday on the 22nd in two separate votes by the full House. So, those bills included the remaining six of the twelve appropriatio