Telehealth Claim Lines Increase 3,060 Percent Nationally When Comparing October 2019 to October 2020

NEW YORK, Jan. 6, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Telehealth claim lines¹ increased 3,060 percent nationally from October 2019 to October 2020, rising from 0.18 percent of medical claim lines in October 2019 to 5.61 percent in October 2020, according to new data from FAIR Health's Monthly Telehealth Regional Tracker. From month to month, coinciding with a surge in COVID-19 cases in October, the 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. The data represent the privately insured population, excluding Medicare and Medicaid.

Trends in the four US census regions (Midwest, Northeast, South and West) were similar to those in the nation as a whole. In each region, there were large percent increases in volume of claim lines from October 2019 to October 2020, and smaller increases from September 2020 to October 2020.

Higher telehealth utilization from March to October 2020 in comparison with the same months in 2019 was likely a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. In March and April 2020, many states prohibited in-person rendering of elective procedures, making telehealth a viable alternative. Many of these prohibitions expired in May as states began to open up. Despite some decline from month to month over the summer, telehealth usage remained high in comparison to 2019, as the pandemic continued. The rise of telehealth usage in October may have been related to the increase in COVID-19 cases that month, as the pandemic rose to new highs at the time.

Another notable finding of the October Monthly Telehealth Regional Tracker concerns the top five telehealth diagnoses by volume. In both January-October 2019 and September 2020, exposure to communicable diseases was not among the top five telehealth diagnoses nationally or in any region, but in October 2020 it was among the top five telehealth diagnoses nationally and in every region. This too is likely related to the surge in COVID-19 cases in October, as patients contacted providers via telehealth out of concern they had been exposed to COVID-19.

As exposure to communicable diseases joined the top five telehealth diagnoses, different diagnoses fell out of the lists in different regions, such as substance use disorders in the Northeast and hypertension in the South.

About the Monthly Telehealth Regional Tracker

Launched in May as a free service, the Monthly Telehealth Regional Tracker uses FAIR Health data to track how telehealth is evolving from month to month. An 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. In addition to data on the volume of claim lines, diagnoses and procedure codes, each infographic includes findings on urban versus rural usage.

FAIR Health President Robin Gelburd stated: "As the COVID-19 pandemic enters different phases, FAIR Health's Monthly Telehealth Regional Tracker is able to provide insights into how it affects telehealth. We will continue to monitor the evolution of this venue of care."

For the Monthly Telehealth Regional Tracker, 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 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 32 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 A claim line is an individual service or procedure listed on an insurance claim.

SOURCE FAIR Health

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