A telehealth visit is a medical appointment conducted remotely using technology instead of an in-person office visit. You connect with a doctor, nurse practitioner, or other provider through video, phone, or messaging to receive care from wherever you are. Telehealth use among physicians jumped from 15.4% in 2019 to 86.5% in 2021, and it has remained a standard part of healthcare delivery since.
The Three Types of Telehealth
Telehealth isn’t limited to video calls. It falls into three categories, and you may use more than one depending on your care needs.
Live video or phone visits are the most common type. You and your provider talk in real time, just like an office appointment but through a screen or phone. These are used for everything from primary care check-ups to therapy sessions.
Remote patient monitoring uses devices that automatically collect and send health data to your provider. If you have a chronic condition like high blood pressure or diabetes, you might use a connected blood pressure cuff or glucose monitor that transmits readings to your care team between appointments. This doesn’t require a back-and-forth conversation. Your provider reviews the data and reaches out if something needs attention.
Asynchronous (store-and-forward) visits let you send information to your provider for review later. You might upload photos of a skin rash, fill out a symptom questionnaire, or send a message describing your concerns. Your provider reviews everything and responds without you needing to be online at the same time. Dermatology and certain specialty consultations frequently use this approach.
What Providers Can Do in a Virtual Visit
Telehealth visits cover a wider range of care than many people expect. Providers can evaluate symptoms, make diagnoses, recommend treatments, adjust medications, and write new prescriptions. More than 120 clinics at UCSF alone offer video visits for hundreds of conditions, and that pattern holds across major health systems nationwide.
Common reasons for a telehealth visit include primary care appointments, follow-ups after surgery, mental health therapy, pain management, and medication check-ins. Mental and behavioral health care has become one of the strongest fits for telehealth, with Medicare now permanently covering behavioral health visits delivered by video or audio-only phone call from the patient’s home with no geographic restrictions.
About 77% of primary care physicians report being able to deliver a similar quality of care through telehealth compared to in-person visits. That number drops for surgical specialists, where roughly half feel telehealth delivers comparable quality. The gap makes sense: conditions that require hands-on procedures or detailed physical exams are harder to manage remotely.
How the Physical Exam Works Remotely
One of the biggest questions people have is how a doctor can examine you through a screen. The answer is that virtual exams rely heavily on your participation. Your provider will guide you through specific steps, turning the visit into what’s sometimes called a “patient-assisted” physical exam.
For a head and throat check, your provider might ask you to look up at the camera so they can examine your eyes for symmetry, check whether your pupils look normal, and assess the whites of your eyes. They’ll ask about changes in hearing, vision, or sense of smell. For an abdominal concern, they might ask you to press on your stomach and describe whether it feels soft or tender, and whether coughing causes pain. If certain findings suggest something more serious, your provider will let you know an in-person visit is needed.
These guided exams work well for many conditions, but they have limits. If your provider can’t get the information they need remotely, they’ll transition your care to an office visit or refer you for in-person testing.
How to Prepare for Your Visit
A little preparation makes a telehealth visit run much more smoothly. You’ll need a smartphone, tablet, or computer with a working camera and microphone. Your internet connection needs to be strong enough to support video without freezing or dropping. If your connection is unreliable, many providers now offer audio-only phone visits as an alternative.
Before the appointment, find a quiet, well-lit room with privacy. Have your insurance card, a list of current medications (including doses), and any recent vitals you can measure at home, like your weight, temperature, or blood pressure. If you have a home blood pressure cuff or thermometer, take a reading shortly before the visit so you can share it. Write down your symptoms and questions ahead of time so you don’t forget anything once the conversation starts.
Most health systems will ask you to complete registration, consent forms, and insurance paperwork before the visit, often through a patient portal. Log in early to handle this so your appointment time is spent on actual care.
Insurance Coverage and Cost
Most major insurers now cover telehealth visits, though your copay and coverage details depend on your specific plan. Medicare coverage has expanded significantly since the pandemic. Through December 31, 2027, Medicare patients can receive telehealth services from home for both medical and behavioral health conditions, with no geographic restrictions. Audio-only phone visits are also covered during this period for non-behavioral health care, and permanently covered for behavioral and mental health services.
All eligible Medicare provider types can deliver telehealth through 2027, including those at federally qualified health centers and rural health clinics. For behavioral health specifically, many of these flexibilities are now permanent, meaning they won’t expire.
If you have private insurance, check with your plan before scheduling. Most commercial insurers adopted telehealth coverage during the pandemic, but copays and which visit types are covered can vary. Some plans charge the same copay as an in-person visit, while others charge less for virtual care.
Prescriptions Through Telehealth
Providers can prescribe most medications during a telehealth visit, including controlled substances like certain anxiety, ADHD, or pain medications. Federal rules currently allow practitioners to prescribe controlled substances (schedules II through V) via telehealth without requiring an in-person exam first. This flexibility is authorized through December 31, 2026.
The prescription must be for a legitimate medical purpose and issued through a real-time video or phone interaction. Standard, non-controlled medications like antibiotics, blood pressure drugs, or antidepressants can be prescribed through telehealth without any special restrictions.
Privacy and Security
Telehealth visits are held to the same federal privacy standards as in-person care. Providers must use technology platforms that comply with HIPAA, the law that protects your health information. This means the video or messaging system your provider uses has a business associate agreement in place with the technology vendor, ensuring your data is handled with the same safeguards as your paper medical records.
In practical terms, this means you should avoid using public Wi-Fi for your visit when possible, and your provider will never ask you to use a consumer platform like FaceTime or standard Zoom unless it meets HIPAA requirements. Most health systems use dedicated telehealth software built into their patient portal.
What Telehealth Can’t Replace
Telehealth works best for conditions where conversation, visual assessment, and history-taking drive the diagnosis. It’s less effective when hands-on examination, lab work, imaging, or procedures are needed. Chest pain, severe injuries, difficulty breathing, and other emergencies always require in-person or emergency care.
Even for conditions that start with a telehealth visit, your provider may order follow-up labs or imaging that require you to visit a facility. Telehealth is often one piece of a broader care plan rather than a complete replacement for all in-person medicine.