Purpose <p>The study aims at investigating the factors influencing the acceptance of telehealth services and understand its inhibitors w.r.t the rural population of India. As this portion of population face healthcare challenges.</p> Design/methodology/approach <p>Using the Technology Acceptance Model&#xa0;(TAM) as a theoretical base framework, the study introduced State&#xa0;of technology conditions, Resistance to use technology, Technology anxiety, Digital divide, Perceived risk, Privacy issue and Technology literacy as external antecedents reflecting the intention to use telehealth among the rural inhabitants. The purposive sampling technique is used to collect the primary data through a structured questionnaire from rural participants and&#xa0;the data was analysed by employing structural equation method (SEM).</p> Findings <p>The study investigations revealed that state of technological conditions deposited significantly high impact on digital divide, privacy issue and perceived risk. Digital divide significantly influenced technology literacy and resistance to use technology confirmed its impact on perceived usefulness and usage intention of telehealth. Also, technology literacy proved to be a significant inhibitor affecting technology anxiety, perceive ease of use and perceived usefulness. All the latent factors influentially impacted intention to use telehealth.</p> Originality <p>It is a unique study where a comprehensive model confirming the application of TAM with the inclusion of exhaustive variables has been investigated the usage intent of telehealth in the rural set up of developing nations. The study presents valuable insights to the healthcare service providers, policy makers and regulators for understanding the issues influencing the implementation of telehealth services in the state of technological advancements. The research findings would help in the design, structure and adequate provision of telehealth care services in developing countries.</p>