Asynchronous Telemental Healthcare Claims Rise, Doubling in Midwest

The percentage of asynchronous telehealth claim lines for mental health conditions increased nationwide, with a particularly sharp rise in the Midwest, where it doubled between May and June, according to new telehealth usage data.

The data from FAIR Health's Monthly Telehealth Regional Tracker represents the privately insured population, including Medicare Advantage and excluding Medicare Fee-for-Service and Medicaid. The tracker, launched in May 2020, uses data from FAIR Health to provide insights into month-to-month changes in the volume of telehealth claim lines and audio-only telehealth usage.

Nationally, telehealth remained stable at 5.4 percent of claim lines in May and June. In three US regions, telehealth use did not change during this period, but usage fell by 2.4 percent in the Midwest.

Despite this overall drop, asynchronous telehealth claim lines for mental health conditions doubled in the Midwest. Mental health conditions replaced hypertension as the No. 1 asynchronous telehealth-based diagnosis in the region, rising to 36 percent of asynchronous telehealth claim lines in June from 15.9 percent in May.

At the national level, mental health conditions also increased, moving from the fifth to the fourth place on the list of top five diagnoses via asynchronous telehealth. This followed a drop on the top asynchronous telehealth diagnoses list in May when mental health conditions fell from the No. 3 to the No. 5 spot.

But, similar to May, mental health conditions topped the national list of telehealth diagnoses via synchronous telehealth in June. Mental health conditions were followed by acute respiratory diseases and infections, joint/soft tissue diseases and issues, developmental disorders, and endocrine and metabolic disorders.

Though this was its sixth straight month of decline at the national level, acute respiratory diseases and infections still ranked second, comprising 1.9 percent of claim lines in June.

Regionally, joint/soft tissue diseases and issues diagnoses via synchronous telehealth increased in the Northeast and West. This diagnosis category entered the top five diagnoses list in the Northeast at fifth place, while in the West, it rose from 2.2 percent in May to 2.3 percent in June but remained in second place.

Additionally, in the Northeast, Midwest, and West, acute respiratory diseases and infections did not make the top five synchronous telehealth diagnoses list in June, even though it ranked third in the Northeast and second in the Midwest in May.

In the South, acute respiratory diseases and infections remained in second place but decreased from 5.2 percent of claims in May to 3.8 percent in June.

Audio-only telehealth use declined nationally and in three regions from May to June, according to tracker data. However, in the South, audio-only telehealth use rose from 5 percent to 5.1 percent in rural areas.

Like in May, audio-only telehealth utilization was higher in rural areas of the Midwest, Northeast, and West compared with urban areas in these regions. Nationally and in the South, audio-only telehealth use was higher in urban areas than in rural areas. This trend was especially stark in the South, where audio-only telehealth in urban areas was nearly twice as high as that of rural areas — 9.1 percent versus 5.1 percent.