While the use of telehealth generally continues to expand, its use declined by 6.8% nationwide in February, according to the Monthly Telehealth Regional Tracker.
The downturn came on the heels of three consecutive months of growth. In February, telehealth utilization also decreased in all four U.S. census regions — the Midwest (8.7%), the South (8.3%), the West (6.2%) and the Northeast (1.5%). The data was based on the privately insured population, including Medicare Advantage. It excluded Medicare Fee-for-Service and Medicaid.
February also marked the first month that COVID-19 did not rank among the top five telehealth diagnoses nationally or in any region. The previous month, it had ranked in third place nationally and in the Northeast and in fourth place in the South.
In February, mental health conditions, the top-ranking diagnosis nationally and in every region, rose from 65.9%of telehealth claim lines nationally in January to 66.7% in February.
The same month, hypertension was the most common diagnosis via asynchronous telehealth in the Northeast and the Midwest, rising from second place. Hypertension continued to rank second nationally and in the West and fourth in the South, as it had in January.
In February 2023, utilization of audio-only telehealth services decreased nationally and in the Northeast and South. It increased in the Midwest and in rural areas of the West, but stayed level in urban areas of the West. Utilization of audio-only telehealth services was generally higher in February in rural areas than urban areas, except for in the South, where audio-only telehealth services accounted for 10.1 percent of telehealth claim lines in urban areas compared to 5.5%in rural areas.
The Monthly Telehealth Regional Tracker uses FAIR Health data to track how telehealth is evolving from month to month. 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.”The Monthly Telehealth Regional Tracker can be found at fairhealth.org.
