AB 688: Telehealth for All Act of 2025.

Official summary

Legislative Counsel’s Digest (official, as of the latest version). Written by nonpartisan legislative staff; reproduced verbatim.

Existing law establishes the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services, under which qualified low-income individuals receive health care services. The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed and funded by federal Medicaid program provisions.

Under existing law, in-person, face-to-face contact is not required under the Medi-Cal program when covered health care services are provided by video synchronous interaction, asynchronous store and forward, audio-only synchronous interaction, remote patient monitoring, or other permissible virtual communication modalities, when those services and settings meet certain criteria.

Existing law required the department, on or before January 1, 2023, to develop a research and evaluation plan that, among other things, proposes strategies to analyze the relationship between telehealth and access to care, quality of care, and Medi-Cal program costs, utilization, and program integrity. The department created that plan in December of 2022 and published the Biennial Telehealth Utilization Report in April of 2024.

This bill, the Telehealth for All Act of 2025, would require the department, commencing in 2028 and every 2 years thereafter, to use Medi-Cal data and other data sources available to the department to produce analyses in a publicly available Medi-Cal telehealth utilization report. The bill would authorize the department to include those analyses in each of the department’s Biennial Telehealth Utilization Reports, as specified.

The bill would require the analyses to address telehealth access and utilization data, including various metrics on telehealth visits and claims, disaggregated by geographic, demographic, and social determinants of health categories to identify disparities. The bill would require the department to identify additional data elements for inclusion in future reports to help to identify and address access-to-care issues or provide greater insight into utilization of telehealth modalities.

Sponsors

Sponsors by party (alphabetical): Democratic 2

“Support” is shown only as formal sponsorship recorded by the legislature. Roll-call votes are available on the official bill page.

Recent official actions

1. October 7, 2025Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 437, Statutes of 2025.
2. October 7, 2025Approved by the Governor.
3. September 4, 2025Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 4 p.m.
4. August 28, 2025Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 75. Noes 0. Page 2761.).
5. August 26, 2025In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending.
6. August 25, 2025Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 37. Noes 0. Page 2251.).
7. August 20, 2025Read second time. Ordered to Consent Calendar.
8. August 19, 2025From committee: Be ordered to second reading file pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8 and ordered to Consent Calendar.
9. July 7, 2025Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on APPR.
10. July 3, 2025From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 11. Noes 0.) (July 2).
11. June 11, 2025Referred to Com. on HEALTH.
12. June 3, 2025In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment.