National Telehealth Use Appears to be Stabilizing
According to new data, national telehealth use increased by 1.9 percent between July and August, remaining relatively stable compared to fluctuations in usage seen over the course of the pandemic.
Like the month prior, the FAIR Health Monthly Telehealth Regional Tracker reported that national telehealth use remained relatively stable in August, despite slight variability in certain US regions.
The FAIR Health Monthly Telehealth Regional Tracker assesses monthly changes in telehealth activity by tracking various metrics, including claim lines, procedure codes, and diagnostic categories. The tracker monitors privately insured people, including Medicare Advantage plan members, but it does not include Medicare Fee-for-Service and Medicaid beneficiaries.
Despite the decline in in-person care restrictions due to the lifting of many COVID-19 policies, telehealth use has remained a popular mode of care delivery.
Upon review of data from August, the FAIR Health Monthly Telehealth Regional Tracker shows that national telehealth use increased by 1.9 percent compared to July. Telehealth claims went from occupying 5.3 percent of medical claim lines in July to 5.4 percent in August.
However, at the regional level, one state saw a more significant boost in telehealth utilization. In the South, telehealth use increased by 4.7 percent.
Meanwhile, telehealth use decreased by 1.4 percent in the West and stayed the same in the Midwest and Northeast.
In the Southern and Western regions, COVID-19 fell in the top five telehealth diagnoses list. Specifically, the disease fell from second to third place between July and August.
COVID-19 remained in second place on the telehealth diagnoses list in the Midwest, Northeast, and at the national level. The tracker also found that on all lists, including nationally and in all regions, COVID-19 dropped between 1 and 2 percent as a share of telehealth claim lines.
Regarding diagnoses, the South and West experienced changes to the top five telehealth diagnoses in August. The South reported that skin infections and issues fell from the list. Meanwhile, for the first time since April, encounters for examination made it onto the list in fourth place in this region.
The West also reported changes in diagnoses. Specifically, endocrine and metabolic disorders fell off the list, while acute respiratory diseases and infections appeared at No. 5.
Overall, there were limited changes in specialty use of telehealth in August. However, in the West, psychologist and primary care nonphysician traded places, with psychologist being fourth on the list of top five specialties using telehealth and primary care nonphysician appearing fifth.
Regarding telehealth procedure codes, there were no changes in August at the national level or in any region. CPT 90837, one-hour psychotherapy, held the No. 1 spot in every region and nationally as it has for the previous six months.
With telehealth use remaining stable in July and August, it appears usage is leveling off compared with earlier in the year.
In May, the FAIR Health Monthly Telehealth Regional Tracker reported that telehealth use increased at the national level and in all US census regions for the second month in a row. In that same month, the tracker also reported that COVID-19 held a higher position on the telehealth diagnoses list, which may have correlated with the increase in virtual care use.