In January 2021, 60-Minute Psychotherapy--for the First Time since Onset of the Pandemic--Becomes the Most Common Telehealth Procedure Nationally

Generalized Anxiety Disorder the Top Mental Health Condition Treated by Telehealth in January 2021

FAIR Health's Monthly Telehealth Regional Tracker Enters Second Year of Tracking Data

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Apr 06, 2021, 10:03 ET

NEW YORK, April 6, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- In January 2021, the most common telehealth procedure nationally was a psychotherapy procedure—the first time that procedure has ranked in the top position since FAIR Health began its Monthly Telehealth Regional Tracker in January 2020. The procedure, 60-minute psychotherapy (CPT^®1 90837), had been the second most common telehealth procedure in December 2020 (and for several months in late 2020), while 15-minute established patient office or other outpatient visit (CPT 99213) had been in first place. But the following month the two codes switched places, though, because of a change in coding, CPT 99213 now referred to an established patient outpatient visit of 20-29 minutes.

In January 2021, 60-Minute Psychotherapy—for the First Time since Onset of the Pandemic—Becomes the Most Common Telehealth Procedure Nationally

With January 2021, FAIR Health's Monthly Telehealth Regional Tracker enters its second year of using FAIR Health private claims data to track the evolution of telehealth from month to month. As before, a free, interactive map of the four US census regions allows the user to view an infographic on telehealth in a specific month in the nation as a whole or in individual regions.

But this second year brings notable changes to the Tracker. In the first year, to study the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on telehealth, each month in 2020 was compared to the corresponding month in 2019. In the second year, the focus is on monthly rather than year-over-year changes. Each infographic shows month-to-month changes in volume of telehealth claim lines, top five telehealth procedure codes, top five telehealth diagnoses (or diagnostic categories) and top five granular diagnoses within the most common diagnostic category.

The top telehealth diagnosis in January 2021, nationally and in every region, was mental health conditions. Within that category, nationally and in all regions but the West, the top granular diagnosis was generalized anxiety disorder. In the West, the top mental health diagnosis was major depressive disorder.

Diagnoses varied by region. In January 2021, nationally and in all regions but the Midwest, COVID-19 continued to be one of the top five diagnoses, as it had been the month before. But in the Midwest, COVID-19 dropped off the list, with developmental disorders and diabetes mellitus joining the list. In the Northeast, for the first time since September 2020, substance use disorders returned to the top five telehealth diagnoses.

One change that occurred nationally and in every region from December 2020 to January 2021 was the disappearance of exposure to communicable diseases (such as when a patient reports exposure to COVID-19) from the list of top five telehealth diagnoses.

Utilization of telehealth grew nationally and in every region. Telehealth claim lines² increased 7.69 percent nationally, rising from 6.50 percent of medical claim lines in December 2020 to 7.00 percent in January 2021. The telehealth share of medical claim lines rose about 8 percent in every region but the Northeast, where the increase was 5.13 percent.

FAIR Health President Robin Gelburd stated: "As the COVID-19 pandemic enters its second year, FAIR Health begins our second year of tracking the evolution of telehealth in that context. The Monthly Telehealth Regional Tracker is one of the many ways we pursue our mission of bringing transparency to healthcare information."

For the Monthly Telehealth Regional Tracker, click here.

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 private healthcare claims data, which includes over 33 billion claim records and is growing at a rate of over 2 billion claim records a year. FAIR Health licenses its privately billed 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; FAIR Health includes among the private 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 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 and an English/Spanish mobile app, which enable consumers to estimate and plan for their healthcare expenditures and offer a rich educational platform on health insurance. 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. FAIR Health also is named a top resource for patients in Dr. Marty Makary's book The Price We Pay: What Broke American Health Care—and How to Fix It and Elisabeth Rosenthal's book An American Sickness: How Healthcare Became Big Business and How You Can Take It Back. For more information on FAIR Health, visit fairhealth.org.

Contact:
Dean Sicoli
Chief Communications Officer
FAIR Health
646-664-1645
[email protected]

¹ CPT © 2020 American Medical Association (AMA). All rights reserved.
² A claim line is an individual service or procedure listed on an insurance claim.

SOURCE FAIR Health