Supporting the designation of the week of September 14, 2025, through September 20, 2025, as "Telehealth Awareness Week".
H. Res. 686 is a non-binding House resolution introduced to designate September 14–20, 2025 as Telehealth Awareness Week. The measure emphasizes telehealth as a critical way for health care practitioners to deliver services across distances, notes its important role during the COVID-19 public health emergency and beyond, and cites Medicare usage data to illustrate growing and sustained adoption. It urges Congress and relevant stakeholders to take steps to preserve telehealth flexibilities beyond September 30, 2025, raise awareness about telehealth’s benefits, provide resources for providers and patients, collect and analyze data on telehealth impacts, and promote permanent, continued access to telehealth across all communities and care settings. The bill is a House resolution introduced by Rep. Carter (GA) with several co-sponsors and was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce.
Key Points
- 1Designates September 14–20, 2025 as “Telehealth Awareness Week” to unite patients, caregivers, providers, policymakers, and other stakeholders around telehealth.
- 2Highlights telehealth as a means to deliver care across different locations and its essential role in expanding access, both during the pandemic and in the post-emergency period.
- 3Cites Medicare data from 2024 (about 6.7 million unique Medicare FFS beneficiaries used at least one telehealth service; about 25% of Medicare FFS beneficiaries; 24% higher telehealth use than in 2019) to illustrate growing adoption and ongoing importance.
- 4Urges continuation of telehealth flexibilities beyond September 30, 2025, signaling a desire to prevent abrupt policy changes that could limit access.
- 5Calls for actions to raise awareness, publish and share resources for providers and patients, collect/analyze data on telehealth impacts, and promote permanent, widespread access to telehealth across communities and settings.