For Third Straight Month, Telehealth Utilization Increased Nationally in January 2023

FAIR Health's Monthly Telehealth Regional Tracker Introduces New Features in Its Fourth Year, including Top Five Diagnoses via Asynchronous Telehealth and Audio-Only Utilization

NEW YORK, April 4, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- National telehealth utilization increased 7.3 percent in January 2023, from 5.5 percent of medical claim lines in December 2022 to 5.9 percent in January, according to FAIR Health's Monthly Telehealth Regional Tracker.¹ It was the third straight month of growth in national telehealth utilization, a trend that began in November. In January, telehealth utilization also increased in all four US census regions—the Midwest (9.5 percent), the West (9.5 percent), the South (6.7 percent) and the Northeast (3.2 percent). The data represent the privately insured population, including Medicare Advantage and excluding Medicare Fee-for-Service and Medicaid.

With January 2023, FAIR Health's Monthly Telehealth Regional Tracker enters its fourth year of reporting on the evolution of telehealth from month to month. As before, a free, interactive map of the 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.

This fourth year brings notable changes to the Telehealth Tracker. In the first year, to study the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on telehealth, each month in 2020 was compared to the corresponding month in 2019. In the second year, the focus turned to monthly rather than year-over-year changes. The third year added new features, such as the Telehealth Cost Corner, which presents a specific telehealth procedure code with its median charge amount and median allowed amount.² The Telehealth Cost Corner continues in the fourth year, as do the top five telehealth diagnoses and the percent change in telehealth's percentage of medical claim lines. New features include audio-only telehealth usage (urban versus rural) and the top five diagnoses via asynchronous telehealth.

Audio-Only Telehealth Usage
From December 2022 to January 2023, audio-only telehealth utilization decreased nationally and in every region. The largest decrease occurred in the South, where audio-only telehealth utilization fell 16.6 percent in rural areas, from 7.2 percent of telehealth claim lines in December to 6.0 percent in January, while falling 12.8 percent in urban areas, from 12.2 percent of telehealth claim lines in December to 10.6 percent in January. Utilization of audio-only telehealth services was generally higher in rural than urban areas, except in the South, where it was higher in urban areas, and in January in the West, where rural and urban usage were approximately equal at 3.0 percent of telehealth claim lines.

Asynchronous Telehealth
In January 2023, the number one diagnosis made via asynchronous telehealth—telehealth in which data are stored and forwarded (e.g., blood pressure or other cardiac-related readings transmitted electronically; A1c levels transmitted)—varied across regions. Nationally and in the South, it was acute respiratory diseases and infections. In the Northeast and Midwest, it was mental health conditions. In the West, it was encounter for screening.

Hypertension ranked second among the top five diagnoses via asynchronous telehealth nationally and in all regions except the South, where it ranked fourth.

Diagnoses
From December 2022 to January 2023, among the top five telehealth diagnoses nationally, developmental disorders and joint/soft tissue diseases and issues switched positions, with the former rising from fifth to fourth place and the latter falling from fourth to fifth place.

In January, COVID-19, which had ranked third among the top five telehealth diagnoses nationally and in every region in December, fell out of the top five in the Midwest and the West and dropped to fourth place in the South. COVID-19 remained in third place nationally and in the Northeast.

Costs
For January 2023, the Telehealth Cost Corner spotlighted the cost of CPT^®3 90834, 45-minute psychotherapy. Nationally, the median charge amount for this service when rendered via telehealth was $151.44, and the median allowed amount was $95.02.

FAIR Health President Robin Gelburd stated: "As the Monthly Telehealth Regional Tracker enters its fourth year, FAIR Health has again modified it to keep pace with the changing needs of stakeholders for current information about this venue of care. We look forward to another year of tracking the evolution of telehealth."

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 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 40 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. 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.

¹ A claim line is an individual service or procedure listed on an insurance claim.
² 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 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).
³ CPT © 2022 American Medical Association (AMA). All rights reserved.

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SOURCE FAIR Health