Telehealth Utilization Continues to Fall Nationally from February to March 2021

Rate of Decline Drops to 5 Percent from 16 Percent the Previous Month, according to FAIR Health's Monthly Telehealth Regional Tracker

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FAIR Health

Jun 08, 2021, 10:03 ET

NEW YORK, June 8, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- From February to March 2021, telehealth utilization continued a national decrease that began the previous month, but this time at a slower rate, according to FAIR Health's Monthly Telehealth Regional Tracker. Telehealth claim lines¹ fell 5.1 percent nationally as a percentage of medical claim lines, decreasing from 5.9 percent of claim lines in February 2021 to 5.6 percent in March, compared to a drop of 15.7 percent from January to February 2021. Telehealth usage also declined from February to March in all four US census regions, with the greatest decline in the Midwest, where the decrease was 8.9 percent. The data represent the privately insured population, excluding Medicare and Medicaid.

Telehealth utilization expanded greatly in 2020, as patients and providers sought a venue of care that would reduce the chance of transmitting COVID-19. Although there were some month-to-month decreases in telehealth usage in 2020, the decline that began in February 2021 coincided with a national drop in COVID-19 cases and increasing vaccination rates.

In another change from February to March 2021, nationally and in several regions, psychotherapeutic/psychiatric codes replaced or outranked evaluation and management (E&M) codes in the list of top five telehealth procedure codes.² For example, in the South, 60-minute psychotherapy (CPT^®3 90837) rose from the number three to the number one position in the top five list, supplanting two E&M codes: 30-39-minute established patient outpatient visit (CPT 99214) and 20-29-minute established patient outpatient visit (CPT 99213). This trend was consistent with a continuing rise, nationally and in every region, in the percentage of telehealth claim lines associated with mental health conditions, the number one telehealth diagnosis.

From February to March 2021, hypertension, as well as joint and soft tissue diseases, dropped in the rankings of telehealth diagnoses nationally and in some regions, while developmental disorders remained steady or rose in the rankings. Hypertension and joint and soft tissue diseases are largely adult conditions that were moving back to the office as COVID-19 vaccinations increased. Developmental disorders are more often seen in children, most of whom were not yet eligible for vaccination.

About the Monthly Telehealth Regional Tracker
Launched in May 2020 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. 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.

FAIR Health President Robin Gelburd stated: "As the COVID-19 pandemic proceeds to a new stage marked by widespread vaccination, FAIR Health's Monthly Telehealth Regional Tracker continues to monitor the evolution of telehealth in that context. This is one of 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 34 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, 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. 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:
Rachel Kent
Senior Director, Marketing, Outreach and Communications
FAIR Health
646-396-0795
[email protected]

¹ A claim line is an individual serv ice or procedure listed on an insurance claim.
² An E&M is a patient-provider visit, such as for an examination, to diagnose illness or to determine or manage treatment.
³ CPT © 2020 American Medical Association (AMA). All rights reserved.

SOURCE FAIR Health