Senate Agrees by Unanimous Consent to a Resolution Designating September 20 to 26, 2026, as Telehealth Awareness Week

The U.S. Senate marked Telehealth Awareness Week by formally recognizing it. On September 24, 2026, the chamber agreed by unanimous consent to Senate Resolution 902, which designates September 20 to 26, 2026, as Telehealth Awareness Week and recognizes the role telehealth plays in delivering care to millions of Americans. The resolution is a statement of policy support, not a change in law, and it arrives while Medicare's major telehealth flexibilities are funded through December 31, 2027 under separate appropriations legislation.

What the Senate did

The Senate took up Senate Resolution 902 on September 24, 2026 and, according to the congressional record, submitted, considered, and agreed to it without amendment and with a preamble by unanimous consent. Unanimous consent means no senator objected, so the resolution passed without a recorded roll-call vote. The measure supports the designation of September 20 to 26, 2026, as Telehealth Awareness Week and recognizes telehealth's contribution to access, especially for rural communities and areas facing health workforce shortages.

A Senate resolution of this kind expresses the position of the chamber. It does not have the force of law, does not fund any program, and does not extend or alter any Medicare benefit. Its practical effect is to put a bipartisan group of senators on record in support of telehealth and to call for further steps to promote awareness and access.

Who sponsored it

Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) sponsored Senate Resolution 902, with Senator Roger Wicker (R-Mississippi) as lead cosponsor. The additional cosponsors were Senators Mark Warner (D-Virginia), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Mississippi), Peter Welch (D-Vermont), and John Barrasso (R-Wyoming). Wicker and Schatz have co-led telehealth awareness resolutions in prior Congresses.

In statements accompanying the resolution, Wicker said, "Telehealth has reduced barriers to health care across Mississippi, yet too many patients around the country are not fully aware of its benefits." Schatz said, "Telehealth helps people access quality health care when and where they need it, and our resolution highlights the broad, bipartisan support."

The figures the resolution cites

The resolution states that 23 percent of Medicare beneficiaries received at least one telehealth service in 2025. It describes telehealth as important for rural communities and for areas strained by workforce shortages, and it warns that lapses in Medicare coverage of telehealth would create negative effects on seniors' access to care. The resolution then recommends a set of steps: promoting awareness, highlighting available resources, collecting data, and expanding access.

Utilization estimates vary by how they are measured. KFF, tracking a point-in-time quarterly figure rather than an annual one, reported that 12.5 percent of eligible Medicare beneficiaries received a telehealth service in the second quarter of 2025, up from 6.9 percent before the pandemic in the first quarter of 2020. The resolution's 23 percent figure counts any beneficiary who used telehealth at least once across the full year.

The policy backdrop: Medicare flexibilities run through 2027

The resolution's warning about coverage lapses reflects a real feature of Medicare telehealth policy: the broad flexibilities in place today are temporary. According to KFF, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2026 extended the major Medicare telehealth flexibilities through December 31, 2027.

Those flexibilities include several that expanded access during the pandemic:

• Beneficiaries can receive telehealth from any location, including their home, in both urban and rural areas, rather than only from a qualifying site in a rural area.
• Services can be delivered by audio-only telephone in addition to two-way video.
• Any provider eligible to bill Medicare can furnish and bill for telehealth, and can conduct an initial visit without a prior in-person relationship.
• Federally qualified health centers and rural health clinics can serve as distant-site providers and bill for telehealth.

KFF reported that the Congressional Budget Office scored the extension of these flexibilities through December 2027 as costing about $3.8 billion from 2026 to 2028. Because the extension is set to lapse at the end of 2027, telehealth groups and lawmakers continue to press for a permanent policy, which is part of the context for the awareness resolution.

What this means for patients and providers

For patients, nothing changes on the ground because of the resolution. Medicare beneficiaries retain the same telehealth coverage they had the day before it passed, including audio-only visits and care received at home, through the end of 2027 under current law. The resolution is a signal of bipartisan support, not a new benefit.

For providers and telehealth companies, the resolution is a reminder that the current rules rest on a fixed end date rather than permanent statute. Any organization building around Medicare telehealth reimbursement is planning against a December 31, 2027 expiration unless Congress acts again. This is general information, not legal or reimbursement advice; providers should confirm current billing rules with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and qualified counsel.

Limits and what to watch

Senate Resolution 902 is non-binding and creates no coverage, funding, or enforcement. The substantive question, whether Medicare's telehealth flexibilities become permanent or expire at the end of 2027, sits in appropriations and health legislation, not in an awareness resolution. The measure's value is as a statement of position from a bipartisan group of senators, and as a marker of continued attention to the 2027 deadline.