Telehealth Utilization Decreased in September 2023 Nationally and in Every US Census Region

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Dec 05, 2023, 08:36 ET

In September 2023, Hypertension Became the Top-Ranked Asynchronous Telehealth Diagnosis Nationally, according to FAIR Health's Monthly Telehealth Regional Tracker

NEW YORK, Dec. 5, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- At the national level and in every US census region, telehealth utilization decreased in September 2023, according to FAIR Health's Monthly Telehealth Regional Tracker. The decline followed an increase nationally and in every region in August. Nationally, the decrease in September was 9.3 percent (a decline from 5.4 percent of medical claim lines in August to 4.9 percent in September).¹ The largest decrease, however, was in the Midwest, where utilization fell 15.0 percent. In the West telehealth utilization fell 14.7 percent, and in the Northeast the decrease was 8.2 percent. The South had the smallest decrease, 7.0 percent. The data include claims for the privately insured population and Medicare Advantage but exclude Medicare Fee-for-Service and Medicaid.

Monthly Telehealth Regional Tracker, September 2023

Asynchronous Telehealth
In September, for the first time in 2023, hypertension ranked in first place among asynchronous telehealth diagnoses nationally.² It had ranked in second place in the earlier months of the year. In September, hypertension increased in its share of asynchronous telehealth claim lines nationally and in every region. It ranked first that month in the Midwest, Northeast and West and second in the South.

In September, diabetes mellitus entered the national top five rankings of asynchronous telehealth diagnoses (at number five) for the first time in 2023.

Top Five Telehealth Diagnoses
In September 2023, COVID-19 entered the rankings of the top five telehealth diagnoses in the Midwest (at number four) and fell out of the rankings in the South and West. COVID-19 remained in second place in the Northeast, the same rank as in August. Nationally, COVID-19 fell from third to fourth place.

In September, the percentage of telehealth claim lines for mental health conditions continued to decrease nationally and in every region, as it had in August. However, mental health conditions remained the number one telehealth diagnosis nationally and in every region, as it had since March 2020.

Audio-Only Telehealth Usage
In September 2023, as in previous months, rural areas showed higher utilization of audio-only telehealth than urban areas in every region except the South, where the pattern was reversed. Audio-only telehealth utilization increased in both rural and urban areas in every region and nationally, except for urban areas of the South, which had a decrease of 14.4 percent, and urban areas nationally, which had a decrease of 4.1 percent.

Telehealth Cost Corner
For September 2023, the Telehealth Cost Corner spotlighted the cost of CPT^®3 90846, 50-minute family psychotherapy without patient. Nationally, the median charge amount for this service when rendered via telehealth was $181.19, and the median allowed amount was $111.82.⁴

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 and audio-only telehealth usage (urban versus rural); the Telehealth Cost Corner, which presents a specific telehealth procedure code with its median charge amount and median allowed amount; and that month's top five telehealth diagnoses and top five diagnoses via asynchronous telehealth.

FAIR Health President Robin Gelburd stated: "We welcome sharing these varying windows into telehealth utilization as it continues to evolve. This is one of the many ways we pursue our healthcare transparency mission."

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 44 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 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
Senior 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.
² Asynchronous telehealth is telehealth in which data are stored and forwarded (e.g., blood pressure or other cardiac-related readings transmitted electronically; A1c levels transmitted electronically).
³CPT © 2023 American Medical Association (AMA). All rights reserved.
⁴ A charge amount is the provider's undiscounted fee, which a patient may have to pay when the patient is uninsured, or when the patient chooses to go to a provider who does not belong to the patient's plan's network. An allowed amount is the total negotiated, in-network fee paid to the provider under an insurance plan. It includes the amount that the health plan pays and the part the patient pays under the plan's in-network cost-sharing provisions (e.g., copay or coinsurance if the patient has met the deductible).

SOURCE FAIR Health