National Telehealth Use Declines for 2nd Consecutive Month
New data from FAIR Health shows that telehealth use continued to decline in the first quarter of the year, falling by 6.1 percent in March.
According to the FAIR Health Monthly Regional Tracker, telehealth use dropped in March for the second month in a row, occupying a smaller portion of all medical claim lines.
The tracker is a free service that assesses how telehealth usage changes monthly by tracking various factors such as claim lines, procedure codes, and diagnostic categories. The population represented is privately insured, including Medicare Advantage and excluding Medicare fee-for-service and Medicaid beneficiaries.
In February, the tracker revealed a 9.3 percent decline in the use of virtual care. This decline continued in March, with the tracker showing a 6.1 percent decrease.
The tracker also found a 0.3 percent decline in telehealth as a proportion of all medical claim lines, falling from 4.9 percent in February to 4.6 percent in March.
All regions of the US also saw declines in telehealth use rate in March, with an 8.1 percent drop in the South and a 7.8 percent decrease in the West.
Researchers surmised that the decline in telehealth use was due to an ongoing reduction in the severity and prominence of COVID-19.
Regarding telehealth diagnoses, mental health conditions remained at the top of the list. There were no changes in the diagnosis list nationally from February to March. But regionally, acute respiratory diseases went from fifth to second place in the Northeast, and urinary tract infections appeared in the top five for the South.
There were a few changes in telehealth specialty rankings, but social work continued to be the top specialty using the care modality for the second straight month regionally and nationally.
As telehealth grew in popularity over the COVID-19 pandemic, many researchers began tracking usage trends.
Earlier this year, a study published in JAMA Network Open examined telehealth use among pediatric subspecialties. The study found that despite the inconsistency in telehealth use among pediatric subspecialties, it was used by genetics and behavioral health subspecialists most.
Another study from March found that those with mental health conditions and substance use disorders continued to use telehealth despite an overall decline in virtual care. The study conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation noted that less than 1 percent of outpatient care took place through telehealth before the COVID-19 pandemic, but this rose to 40 percent in 2020. In 2022, 36 percent of mental health and substance use disorder appointments happened using telehealth, significantly higher than the 5 percent of all other specialties.
In addition, previous data from FAIR Health showed that although general telehealth use continued to decline in the second half of 2021, telemental care experienced high retention rates. In October 2021, there was a 7 percent decline in telehealth use, but the share of telehealth claims for mental health conditions increased between September and October, rising from 61.2 percent to 62.7 percent.