Telehealth is established, but building it well is still complex.
Telehealth is no longer niche. HHS reports that 25% of Medicare fee-for-service users had a telehealth service in 2024, and CDC data shows 80.5% of office-based physicians used telemedicine in 2021, up from 16.0% in 2019.
At the same time, implementation barriers remain real: CDC and HealthIT.gov highlight issues such as patient difficulty using telehealth tools, internet access and speed, platform usability, cost, and workflow complexity.