FAIR Health Launches Telehealth Tracker Trending Reports, Revealing Trends over First Six Months of 2024

From January to June 2024, Telehealth Utilization Rose Nationally and in All Regions but the Northeast, Where It Fell

Mental Health Conditions Ranked as the Number One Telehealth Diagnostic Category Nationally and in All Regions, Increasing as a Percentage of Claim Lines

NEW YORK, Oct. 15, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Today FAIR Health launched the Monthly Telehealth Regional Tracker Trending Reports, a free set of infographics that show national and regional six-month trends in telehealth. A brief released simultaneously offers a user's guide to the Telehealth Tracker Trending Reports.

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The Telehealth Tracker Trending Reports are based on the Monthly Telehealth Regional Tracker, which, since May 2020, has used FAIR Health data to track how telehealth is evolving from month to month. The Telehealth Tracker has attracted widespread interest from media outlets, researchers, government officials, health plans, providers and other key healthcare stakeholders. To add another dimension to the Telehealth Tracker, and broaden its lens, FAIR Health created the Telehealth Tracker Trending Reports, which offer a window into changes over longer periods than one month. These first trending reports show national and regional trends in telehealth utilization—as measured by telehealth's percentage of medical claim lines¹—and the top five telehealth diagnostic categories across each month from January to June 2024. The data represent the commercially insured population, excluding Medicare Fee-for-Service, Medicare Advantage and Medicaid.

Among the key findings from the first Telehealth Tracker Trending Reports:

• Telehealth utilization increased from January to June 2024 nationally and in all regions except the Northeast, where it decreased. Nationally, telehealth utilization rose from 4.78 percent in January to 4.89 percent in June, an increase of 2.30 percent.
• From January to June 2024, mental health conditions ranked as the number one telehealth diagnostic category nationally and in all regions and increased as a percentage of claim lines nationally and in all regions over that time. Nationally, mental health conditions rose from 66.29 percent of telehealth claim lines in January to 68.05 percent in June, an increase of 2.65 percent.
• In the Midwest, substance use disorders ranked fourth among telehealth diagnostic categories from January to March, third in April and second in May before falling to fourth position again in June.
• Overweight and obesity rose in the rankings in the Northeast from January to June, starting in fifth position in January and ending in second position in June.
• The South was notable as the only region to have hypertension in its top five telehealth diagnostic categories in all six months.
• In the West, joint/soft tissue diseases and issues ranked in second position in the top five telehealth diagnostic categories throughout the six-month period.

FAIR Health President Robin Gelburd stated: "The results of the first edition of the Monthly Telehealth Regional Tracker Trending Reports shed light on telehealth utilization and diagnostic categories in the six months from January to June 2024. We hope that the trending reports will be useful to all healthcare stakeholders, including policy makers, payors, providers, patients and researchers."

For the Monthly Telehealth Regional Tracker Trending Reports, click here. For the user's guide to the trending reports, click here.

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About FAIR Health

FAIR Health is a national, independent nonprofit organization that qualifies as a public charity under section 501(c)(3) of the federal tax code. It is dedicated to bringing transparency to healthcare costs and health insurance information through data products, consumer resources and health systems research support. FAIR Health possesses the nation's largest collection of commercial healthcare claims data, which includes over 48 billion claim records and is growing at a rate of over 3 billion claim records a year. FAIR Health licenses its commercial data and data products—including benchmark modules, data visualizations, custom analytics and market indices—to commercial insurers and self-insurers, employers, providers, hospitals and healthcare systems, government agencies, researchers and others. Certified by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) as a national Qualified Entity, FAIR Health also receives data representing the experience of all individuals enrolled in traditional Medicare Parts A, B and D, which accounts for a separate collection of over 48 billion claim records; FAIR Health includes among the commercial claims data in its database, data on Medicare Advantage enrollees. FAIR Health can produce insightful analytic reports and data products based on combined Medicare and commercial claims data for government, providers, payors and other authorized users. FAIR Health's systems for processing and storing protected health information have earned HITRUST CSF certification and achieved AICPA SOC 2 Type 2 compliance by meeting the rigorous data security requirements of these standards. As a testament to the reliability and objectivity of FAIR Health data, the data have been incorporated in statutes and regulations around the country and designated as the official, neutral data source for a variety of state health programs, including workers' compensation and personal injury protection (PIP) programs. FAIR Health data serve as an official reference point in support of certain state balance billing laws that protect consumers against bills for surprise out-of-network and emergency services. FAIR Health also uses its database to power a free consumer website available in English and Spanish, which enables consumers to estimate and plan for their healthcare expenditures and offers a rich educational platform on health insurance. An English/Spanish mobile app offers the same educational platform in a concise format and links to the cost estimation tools. The website has been honored by the White House Summit on Smart Disclosure, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), URAC, the eHealthcare Leadership Awards, appPicker, Employee Benefit News and Kiplinger's Personal Finance. For more information on FAIR Health, visit fairhealth.org.

Contact:
Rachel Kent
Executive Director of Communications and Marketing
FAIR Health
646-396-0795
[email protected]

¹ A claim line is an individual service or procedure listed on an insurance claim.

SOURCE FAIR Health