The Arizona Telemedicine Program Blog

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) “Rural Health Transformation Program (RHTP),” notice of funding opportunity (NOFO), published September 15, 2025, provides States with an historic funding opportunity that seeks to help them transform healthcare delivery for their rural residents.

As a second-year medical student at the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson, I’ve been fortunate to interact with patients early in my training. Yet the experiences that left the deepest impact weren’t from structured classroom activities. They came from the time I chose to spend at the Crisis Response Center (CRC) at Banner University South, a 24-hour stabilization center for youth experiencing mental health crises.

Sitting in on patient interviews, I witnessed the wide range of stories and struggles that bring children and adolescents to the CRC. Despite their differences, one theme stood out: the lack of continuity in behavioral healthcare, especially for those in foster care. Given my research on telehealth since 2020, I kept asking myself, could telehealth be part of the solution?

We had the opportunity to speak with Dr. Amit Algotar, MD, PhD, MPH, FOMA, FACPM who leads a telehealth-based lifestyle weight loss clinic at Banner University Medical Center South. His innovative approach focuses on using lifestyle modifications as a primary treatment modality for managing and preventing chronic conditions like cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and even certain cancers. In this Q&A, Dr. Algotar shares the philosophy behind his work, the impact he’s seeing, and how telehealth is helping him reach more patients.

The COVID-19 pandemic has fundamentally reshaped healthcare, with telehealth emerging as a vital tool for delivering crucial services to patients from the comfort and safety of home.

Now, a groundbreaking new program takes this a step further in the expansion of the Home Test to Treat, an entirely virtual community health initiative offering free at-home rapid tests for COVID-19 and the flu, as well as telehealth consultations, and medication delivery for eligible participants nationwide.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (NCCDPHP) defines a community health worker (CHW) as “a frontline public health worker who is a trusted member or has a particularly good understanding of the community served. A CHW serves as a liaison between health and social services and the community to facilitate access to services and to improve the quality and cultural competence of service delivery.”

In Arizona’s rural communities they are frequently called community health workers. In tribal nations and within the Indian Health Service, they are often known as community health representatives (CHRs). In Southern Arizona communities, they may be called promotoras or promotores.