COVID-19 Returns to Top 5 Telehealth Diagnoses

COVID-19 rejoined the top five telehealth diagnoses nationally as virtual visit usage jumped 7.3 percent in November 2021, according to Fair Health’s Monthly Telehealth Regional Tracker.

The tracker is a complimentary service that analyzes how telehealth usage changes monthly by tracking claim lines, procedure codes, and diagnostic categories.

In the US overall, COVID-19 was missing from the top five telehealth diagnoses in September and October last year, per the tracker. But, this changed in November 2021 when the disease took the fifth-place spot on the top diagnoses list, accounting for 1.4 percent of telehealth claim lines. This is likely linked to detecting the novel Omicron variant, which occurred around the same time.

With COVID-19 earning a spot on this list, substance use disorders departed from the top five.

Independently, the Northeast and Midwest regions of the US also reported COVID-19 as moving into a top five spot in terms of telehealth diagnoses. This was the first time in 11 months for the Northeast and in two months for the Midwest that COVID-19 took a place in the top five.

Concurrently, joint and soft tissue diseases fell from the list in both the Northeast and Midwest.

Although the South and West did not see the return of COVID-19 diagnoses into its top five, the South did experience a slip in claim lines for encounter for examination- that is, when a person is suspected of having an abnormal condition and, it is ruled out after examination. This claim type fell two spots on its list.

In the West, the top five telehealth diagnoses remained the same as the month prior.

In addition, general telehealth use increased 7.3 percent in November 2021, increasing from 4.1 percent of all medical claim lines in October to 4.4 percent in November. This came after a 6.8 percent decrease the previous month.  

A previous Fair Health Tracker update showed that throughout 2020, the frequency of telehealth use skyrocketed, almost entirely due to the lifestyle changes brought by the COVID-19 pandemic. But as summer 2021 concluded and the fall began, COVID-19 was replaced by other diagnoses such as mental health services, substance use disorder, and acute respiratory diseases.

The share of telemental health claims increased nationally by 1.5 percent during the fall, going from 61.2 percent of claims last September to 62.7 percent of all claims in October 2021.  

Rankings of procedure codes also took a turn as the pandemic evolved. In October, CPT 99214 was the second most-used billing code for telehealth, and 99213 was third. But these two codes switched places in the following month.

As telehealth is continuously viewed as applicable in various situations, there is a growing desire to have these services as a permanent option.

Last week, legislators and telehealth stakeholders sent a series of letters to Congress requesting that they extend temporary telehealth authorities even after the public health emergency determination expires.