Telehealth Usage Jumped 10% Nationally in January

As the COVID-19 Omicron variant progressed nationwide in January, FAIR Health’s Monthly Telehealth Regional tracker shows there was an increase in telehealth utilization for every US census region for the third straight month.

The 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, including Medicare Advantage and excluding Medicare Fee-for-Service and Medicaid beneficiaries.

"As the COVID-19 pandemic enters its third year, FAIR Health begins our third year of tracking the evolution of telehealth," said FAIR Health President Robin Gelburd, in the press release. "Once again, we have modified our Monthly Telehealth Regional Tracker to keep pace with the changing needs of stakeholders for current information about this venue of care."

In January, there was a 10.2 percent increase in telehealth utilization, which resulted in telehealth occupying 5.4 percent of all medical claim lines, the tracker shows. This number increased from December when telehealth accounted for 4.9 percent of all medical claim lines.

Previous FAIR Health data noted that telehealth accounted for 4.1 percent of all medical claim lines in October 2021. This rose to 4.4 percent the next month.

The January tracker reported that telehealth utilization was rising in all US census regions, but the West experienced the most notable increase at 17.5 percent.

The tracker also reported that in every census region besides the West, social worker was the leading specialty using telehealth and primary care physician (PCP) was the runner-up. In the West, PCP was the specialty that used telehealth the most, while social worker was second.  

Regarding diagnoses, COVID-19 was ranked second or third in all regions and nationally. This represents an increase from November 2021, when it was ranked fifth.

Mental health conditions have steadily held the No. 1 spot on the most common diagnoses list since last November.

Further, the January report shows that the CPT code 90837, which represents one hour of psychotherapy, was in first place among telehealth procedure codes nationally and in every region.

Like in January, the transition from November to December 2021 showed similar findings regarding telehealth use during the peak of the omicron variant. During this time, the FAIR Health Monthly Telehealth Regional Tracker reported an increase in telehealth use by 11.4 percent and a rise from 4.4 to 4.9 percent of all medical claim lines. In December, the top diagnosis was also mental health conditions, followed by acute respiratory disease, hypertension, and joint and soft tissue diseases.