Telehealth use waned across demographic groups in 2022

The percentage of adults who used telehealth in the past year dropped from 37 percent in 2021 to 30.1 percent in 2022, with declines observed across sociodemographic and geographic groups, according to new federal data.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released the most recent National Health Statistics Report on June 20. These reports provide annual data summaries, analyses of health topics, or new information on methods or measurement issues. The latest report is based on the 2021 and 2022 National Health Interview Surveys, which assessed trends in telehealth utilization in the previous 12 months.

The last National Health Statistics Report on telehealth trends was released in 2022. It showed that telehealth remained popular across various populations in 2021, with 43.3 percent of United States adults 65 and older and 42 percent of women saying they used telehealth in the past year. Additionally, 40.6 percent of American Indian or Alaska Native, 39.2 percent of White, 33.1 percent of Black, 33 percent of Asian, and 32.8 percent of Hispanic adults said they used telehealth in the previous year.

The updated figures reveal a sharp drop in telehealth usage. Not only did overall telehealth use decrease from 37 percent in 2021 to 30.1 percent in 2022, but use declined across age, sex, race, and residence, among other characteristics.

Though women were still more likely to use telehealth than men, only 33.8 percent of women said they used telehealth in the past year in 2022, compared with 43 percent in 2021. Similarly, telehealth use among men dropped from 31.7 percent in 2021 to 26.3 percent.

Significant declines in telehealth use were also observed among US adults aged 30 to 44, 45 to 64, and 65 and older. The decline was most pronounced among the 65 and older age group, with 43.3 percent of this group saying they used telehealth in the past year in 2021 to 30.6 percent saying the same in 2022.

Further, telehealth use decreased across racial groups in 2022 compared with 2021. Nearly a third of White adults (31.5 percent) said they had used telehealth in the past year, followed by 30.1 percent of American Indian and Alaska Native, 29.5 percent of Asian, 27.4 percent of Black, and 26.7 percent of Hispanic adults.

The report also shows that, like in 2021, US adults with lower levels of education were less likely to use telehealth in 2022. Only 21.9 percent of those with less than a high school diploma or GED used telehealth in the past year, compared with 36.4 percent of those with a college degree or higher.

Telehealth use varied by geographic location as well. In 2022, the Western region of the US had the highest telehealth use (36.3 percent), followed by the Northeast (34.6 percent), the Midwest (26.7 percent), and the South (26.1 percent).

Additionally, telehealth utilization decreased with increasing rurality of residence in both 2021 and 2022. Past-year telehealth usage was 34.2 percent among adults living in large central metropolitan areas and 19.6 percent among those living in the most rural areas in 2022.

The data comes on the heels of research throwing into question the efficacy of telehealth versus in-person care.

A study published mid-month revealed that while clinical evidence shows that telehealth is comparable to in-person care across various outcomes and clinical areas, researchers cautioned that the available evidence is “weak and heterogeneous.”

The researchers conducted a literature review of 77 studies, finding similar effectiveness of telehealth compared with in-person care during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, researchers noted that most studies had a serious or high risk of bias and did not adjust their results for the demographic, socioeconomic, or clinical characteristics of the study population.