Telehealth Utilization Rose 1.9% Nationally in July

From June to July 2022, the FAIR Health Monthly Telehealth Regional tracker reported that telehealth utilization increased slightly at the national level and in three of the four US census regions.

The FAIR Health Monthly Telehealth Regional tracker is a complimentary service that analyzes how telehealth usage changes monthly by tracking various factors such as claim lines, procedure codes, and diagnostic categories. The population represented is privately insured and includes Medicare Advantage but excludes Medicare Fee-for-Service and Medicaid beneficiaries.

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, tracking telehealth use trends helped healthcare organizations understand the extent to which patients used virtual care and the circumstances in which providers used it most.

For example, in May, the tracker reported a 10.2 percent increase in telehealth use nationally. Researchers surmised that this was linked to the rise in COVID-19 cases related to the Omicron variant in early 2022.

When comparing data from June and July 2022, researchers found that telehealth use increased in three of the four US census regions: the Midwest, the South, and the West. The West reported the sharpest increase at 5.7 percent, with a 0.4 percent increase in the prevalence of telehealth in medical claim lines. The South experienced a 4.9 percent increase in telehealth use, and the Midwest experienced a 2.5 percent increase. However, in the Northeast, telehealth use dropped 3.3 percent.

National telehealth use increased by 1.9 percent. The presence of telehealth in medical claim lines increased 0.1 percent to 5.3 percent in July, up from 5.2 percent in June.

Regarding specialties most likely to use telehealth, social workers held their place as No. 1 in all regions and nationally, as it has since February. In the South, however, this specialty fell 8.7 percent in terms of telehealth claim lines. Simultaneously, psychiatrist use of telehealth increased by 8.1 percent in this region.

Researchers also noted that in the Midwest, primary care nonphysicians and psychologists switched positions on the top telehealth specialties list in July. However, in the Northeast, psychiatrists and psychologists switched places.

At the national level and in every region, COVID-19 was the second-highest telehealth diagnosis. But, in the Northeast, acute respiratory diseases and infections fell off the top five telehealth diagnoses list in July, accompanied by the addition of joint and soft tissue diseases to the list.

In the West, acute respiratory diseases and infections left the top five telehealth diagnoses list and was replaced by endocrine and metabolic disorders.

Regarding procedure codes, the tracker reported no changes in July. The top telehealth procedure code was CPT 90837, one-hour psychotherapy, as it has been for the preceding five months.

The release of this data follows a report that revealed the enduring popylarity of telehealth among patients. A vast majority of survey respondents (94 percent) who had received care through telehealth in the preceding year indicated that they planned to use it again, according to research from JD Power.