The trend: Telehealth’s share of primary care visits has held steady over the past two years, accounting for just under 6% of bookings in October 2025, according to new Epic research that analyzed 411 million primary care visits between July 2022 and October 2025.

• Telehealth visits peaked during the pandemic and through mid-2023, but declined by about 30% over the course of Epic’s study period.
• But since mid-2023, telehealth’s share has remained stable at 6% to 7%, “suggesting a new steady state in the balance between virtual and in-person care,” per Epic.

Why it matters: Telehealth has become a key healthcare delivery channel embedded in most medical organizations.

• We estimate that 88.9 million consumers—33% of US adults—will use telehealth in 2026, roughly matching peak pandemic levels in 2021 (33.4%).
• This indicates that while total virtual care visits have declined, about the same number of people continue to incorporate telehealth into their care.

Plus, the true share of telehealth visits across US healthcare is likely higher than 6%, as Epic’s data doesn’t account for virtual care delivered by a growing number of direct-to-consumer (D2C) healthcare companies that operate outside of Epic’s EHR and therefore aren’t captured in this research.

• For example, over one quarter (26.1%) of GLP-1 patients received their prescription through an online provider, according to EMARKETER’s January 2026 Digital Health Survey.
• Leading D2C telehealth companies like Hims & Hers, Ro, and Noom also offer online access to a broad range of popular treatments across men’s, women’s, and sexual health.

Implications for telehealth companies: There is sufficient demand and utilization of telehealth to support a robust market of players delivering virtual care, both via D2C and through traditional healthcare channels. However, not all will survive given the similarity of their offerings.

Competitive differentiation will hinge on building patient relationships by going beyond prescription fulfillment to support holistic health, delivering a better user experience through flexible scheduling and transparent online pricing, and leveraging AI to enhance communication between visits.