September 10th , 2026
Jocelyn Jaime, MA
Telehealth Awareness Week, taking place September 20th through 26th, 2026, is a national campaign organized by the American Telemedicine Association to highlight how virtual care is transforming healthcare across settings and specialties. It is also an opportunity to recognize the patients, providers, care teams, and organizations using telehealth to create more connected and patient-centered models of care.
What Is Telehealth?
Telehealth uses digital technologies to support healthcare services when patients and providers are not in the same location.
Telehealth can include:
- Video visits
- Audio-only appointments
- Remote patient monitoring (RPM)
- Provider-to-provider consultations (eConsults)
- Health education and coaching
- Care coordination and follow-up services
While telehealth does not replace in-person visits, it provides an additional way for patients to access care and stay connected to their healthcare team.
Different People. Different Needs. Different Benefits.
Telehealth can support a wide range of patients and communities:
- Busy families can fit healthcare appointments around work, school, and caregiving responsibilities. A 2024 study published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, which examined more than 474,000 appointments at a safety-net health system, found a 12% no-show rate for telehealth visits compared to 25% for in-person visits. By reducing barriers such as transportation challenges, work schedules, and caregiving responsibilities, telehealth can help make it easier for patients to access care.
- Patients managing chronic conditions can stay connected to their care team through follow-ups, medication management, and ongoing support. According to the California Health Care Foundation’s 2024 Quality of Care: Chronic Conditions Almanac, approximately 650 hospitalizations per 100,000 California adults were associated with chronic conditions that may have been avoided through effective primary care and ongoing management. Telehealth can help patients stay connected to care between visits and support long-term disease management.
- Rural communities can access specialty expertise closer to home, reducing travel burdens and helping connect patients to providers who may not be available locally. The Public Policy Institute of California estimates that 2.3 million Californians live in rural communities, many of which face unique healthcare access challenges. Telehealth can help expand access to specialty care by reducing the need for long-distance travel and connecting patients with providers beyond their local area.
- Behavioral health patients can access care through one of telehealth’s most successful use cases. According to the California Department of Health Care Access and Information (HCAI), nearly 8 million Californians live with a mental illness, and RAND researchers found that telehealth accounted for approximately 50% of behavioral health visits at participating California health centers between 2022 and 2024.
- Maternal health patients can benefit from additional support during pregnancy and the postpartum period, particularly when balancing transportation, caregiving, and scheduling challenges. In a study published in the Journal of Obstetric, Gynecologic & Neonatal Nursing that examined more than 45,000 births, telehealth prenatal visits increased from approximately 1% before the pandemic to 17.3% in 2020, highlighting the growing role of virtual care in supporting maternal health.
- People with disabilities and accessibility needs may benefit from more flexible pathways to care. The World Health Organization estimates that 1 in 6 people worldwide live with a disability, highlighting the importance of accessible telehealth services.
For some, telehealth means fitting care into a busy schedule. For others, it means accessing specialty care closer to home, managing a chronic condition between appointments, or connecting to behavioral health and maternal health services.
Different stories, with one common goal: Connecting people to care.
Learn More
Interested in exploring how telehealth is helping improve access, quality, and convenience across healthcare?
Visit CalTRC.org to access telehealth resources, educational tools, and information designed to support patients, providers, and healthcare organizations across California.
Happy Telehealth Awareness Week!
References:
- California Health Care Foundation. Quality of Care: Chronic Conditions Almanac, 2024 Edition. October 31, 2024. https://www.chcf.org/resource/2024/10/31/quality-of-care-chronic-conditions-almanac/
- Hawkins SS. Telehealth in the prenatal and postpartum periods. Journal of Obstetric, Gynecologic & Neonatal Nursing. 2023;52(4):264-275.
- Johnson H, Cuellar Mejia M. Rural California. Public Policy Institute of California, 2024. https://www.ppic.org/publication/rural-california/
- Ojinnaka CO, Johnstun L, Dunnigan A, Nordstrom L, Yuh S. Telemedicine reduces missed appointments but disparities persist. American Journal of Preventive Medicine. 2024;67(1):90-96.
- RAND Corporation. Telehealth Visits in Health Centers Serving Low-Income Patients in California: Final Results from the Connected Care Accelerator Initiative (2022-2024). December 19, 2024.
- California Department of Health Care Access and Information. Behavioral Health Data in California. https://hcai.ca.gov/data/initiatives/behavioral-health/
- World Health Organization. Making Accessible Telehealth Services for Persons with Disabilities. https://www.who.int/activities/making-accessible-telehealth-services-for-persons-with-disabilities
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