Utilization statistics confirm telehealth’s staggering rise and stabilization. US private insurance telehealth claims data, collected by non-profit FAIR Health in the year October 2019 to October 2020, rose from 0.18 percent of medical claim lines in October 2019 to 5.61 percent in October 2020, a 3,060 percent increase. While the percentages may be low, this tracks with the rise and fall of telehealth visits from February tracked by the last Commonwealth Fund/Phreesia/Harvard University study in October to about 6 percent of medical visits [TTA 29 Oct 20] as well as Epic’s tracking into September [TTA 2 Sept].
According to FAIR’s claim data, telehealth utilization peaked in April at 13 percent, falling in May to 8.69 percent, 6.85 percent in June, and 6 percent in August. This followed the trends reported by both Commonwealth Fund and Epic.
Telehealth visits ticked up September to October, tracking with the rise of positive COVID diagnoses. Telehealth share of medical claim lines rose 10.6 percent nationally, from 5.07 percent in September 2020 to 5.61 percent in October 2020.
In every month, mental health led the top five diagnoses in the 30-50 percent range, cresting above 51 percent in October. This points to a greater acceptance of telehealth treatment in this specialty, which is positive, but also the distressing rise in CoronaDepression which TTA has been tracking in both the US and UK [TTA 18 Dec 20]
‘Exposure to communicable diseases’ were, up to September, not consistently among the top five reasons for telehealth visits. They re-emerged on the list in October. In other months as well as October, ‘respiratory diseases and infections’ may have been where active COVID was categorized. Other telehealth conditions were ‘joint/soft tissue diseases’ and ‘developmental disorders’. CPT/HCPCS codes are also listed for reference.
To view FAIR Health’s monthly national and regional analyses, go to their Monthly Telehealth Regional Tracker. Release.
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