December 1, 2025
Telehealth Resources for Rural Areas
1 in 5 people in the U.S. live in rural and frontier areas. Rural communities experience less traffic congestion, better air quality, and more open spaces. However, people living in rural areas have greater health care needs and more limited access to timely health services.
Telehealth can help reduce health disparities by increasing access to timely, high quality health care. Even in communities without access to broadband, some health care services can be provided by phone, secure messaging, and asynchronous care.
This best practice guide provides tools and resources to help health care providers effectively use telehealth in rural communities. This information can be used to establish a new program or expand and enhance an existing telehealth program.
Telehealth Resources
Click the links below to access:
- Getting started with rural telehealth
- Challenges of rural health for patients and providers
- Benefits of telehealth in rural areas
- Considerations for starting or expanding your telehealth practice
- Developing a rural telehealth workflow and strategy
- Get to know your community
- Create a business plan
- Market and advertise your telehealth services
- Evaluate your telehealth program
- Billing for telehealth services in rural areas
- Medicare
- Medicaid
- Private insurance
- Preparing rural patients for telehealth
- Educate patients about the basics of rural telehealth
- Help with technology troubleshooting
- What your patients can expect from a telehealth appointment