Telehealth Utilization Grew 11 Percent Nationally from November to December 2021

COVID-19 among Top Five Telehealth Diagnoses Nationally and in All Four Census Regions in December 2021, according to FAIR Health's Monthly Telehealth Regional Tracker

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FAIR Health

Mar 07, 2022, 08:08 ET

NEW YORK, March 7, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- For the second straight month, national telehealth utilization, measured as a percentage of all medical claim lines, grew in December 2021, according to FAIR Health's Monthly Telehealth Regional Tracker.¹ Telehealth utilization increased nationally 11.4 percent, from 4.4 percent of all medical claim lines in November to 4.9 percent in December. Telehealth utilization also increased in December in every US census region (Midwest, Northeast, South and West), with the greatest increase (18.2 percent) in the South. The data represent the privately insured population, including Medicare Advantage and excluding Medicare Fee-for-Service and Medicaid.

COVID-19 and Changes in Diagnosis Rankings
The December increases in telehealth utilization coincided with the nationwide surge of COVID-19 cases fueled by the highly transmissible Omicron variant. FAIR Health data show that COVID-19, which in November had been among the top five telehealth diagnoses nationally and in the Midwest and Northeast, continued to hold that status in December while also joining the top five telehealth diagnoses in the South and West. Nationally, from November to December, COVID-19 rose from fifth place to third place among telehealth diagnoses; in the Northeast, the epicenter of December's Omicron surge, COVID-19 rose from fifth place to second place.

In December, other diagnoses changed in their percentage share of telehealth claim lines, their rankings among telehealth diagnoses, or both. Mental health conditions remained the number one diagnosis in the nation and all regions, but everywhere fell in percentage share. In the South, mental health conditions fell to less than 50 percent of telehealth claim lines (43.4 percent), the only region where that was the case. Acute respiratory diseases and infections rose everywhere in percentage share of telehealth claim lines. Hypertension joined the top five telehealth diagnoses in the South and joint/soft tissue diseases and issues joined that list in the Northeast.

Changes in Procedure Code Rankings
In December, the procedure code for 60-minute psychotherapy, CPT^®] 90837, remained in first place among telehealth procedure codes nationally and in all regions but the South, where it fell from first to third place. Its percentage share, however, fell nationally and regionally. This was part of a general trend in December toward lower utilization of psychiatric procedure codes and higher utilization of evaluation and management (E&M) codes. For example, in the Midwest, CPT 99212, an E&M code (10-19-minute established patient outpatient visit), supplanted CPT 90833, a psychiatric code (30-minute psychotherapy performed with E&M visit), in fifth place among telehealth procedure codes. In addition, in the national rankings, CPT 99441, a telehealth audio visit (5-10-minute physician telephone patient service) supplanted CPT 90833 in fifth place.

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 and top five telehealth diagnoses (or diagnostic categories), along with that month's top five granular diagnoses within the most common diagnostic category.

FAIR Health President Robin Gelburd stated: "As the COVID-19 pandemic and telehealth utilization continue to evolve, FAIR Health's Monthly Telehealth Regional Tracker serves as a window into that evolution. 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 36 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 Dr. 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 of Marketing
FAIR Health
646-396-0795
[email protected]

¹ A claim line is an individual service or procedure listed on an insurance claim.
² CPT © 2021 American Medical Association (AMA). All rights reserved.

SOURCE FAIR Health