A multilayered analysis of telehealth: how this emerging venue of care is affecting the healthcare landscape
- Collection:
- Health Policy and Services Research
- Series Title(s):
- White paper (FAIR Health, Inc.)
- Contributor(s):
- FAIR Health, Inc., issuing body.
- Publication:
- New York, NY : FAIR Health, Inc., July 2019
- Language(s):
- English
- Format:
- Text
- Subject(s):
- Telemedicine -- statistics & numerical data Telemedicine -- trends United States
- Genre(s):
- Technical Report
- Abstract:
- Telehealth has been growing rapidly in recent years as a venue of care. To shed light on how telehealth is affecting the healthcare landscape, FAIR Health analyzed recent data in our repository of over 29 billion private healthcare claim records. These are some of our findings: (1) Rapid growth. From 2014 to 2018, use of non-hospital-based provider-to-patient telehealth grew 1,393 percent, from 0.007 percent to 0.104 percent of all medical claim lines. Claim lines related to any type of telehealth grew 624 percent, from 0.0192 percent to 0.1394 percent of all medical claim lines. (2) Provider-to-patient type. In 2018, non-hospital-based provider-to-patient telehealth accounted for 84 percent of all telehealth claim lines, compared with 52 percent in 2014. (3) Rural and urban areas. From 2014 to 2018, usage of non-hospital-based provider-to-patient telehealth grew more rapidly in urban than rural areas. In urban areas, claim lines for this type of telehealth increased 1,227 percent from 0.01 percent to 0.13 percent of all urban medical claim lines. In rural areas, the increase was 897 percent from 0.01 percent to 0.05 percent of all rural medical claim lines. (4) Telehealth after hospital discharge. The opposite pattern held for discharge-related provider-to-patient telehealth claim lines. Claim lines for this type of telehealth increased more in rural than urban areas from 2014 to 2018. In rural areas, the increase was 407 percent, from 0.005 percent to 0.025 percent of all rural medical claim lines. In urban areas, the increase was 157 percent, from 0.007 percent to 0.019 percent of all urban medical claim lines. (5) Younger people. In the period 2014-2018, the age group most associated with telehealth overall was that of individuals age 31-40, who accounted for 21 percent of the distribution of all telehealth claim lines. But most of the claim lines (82 percent) for discharge-related provider-to-patient telehealth were associated with individuals 51 and older. (6) Age distribution. Individuals over age 80 constituted 37 percent of patients who had an in-person visit for the same or a very similar diagnosis within 15 days of a non-hospital-based provider-to-patient telehealth visit for heart failure in 2018. But in the same year, individuals age 23-30 constituted the largest share (23 percent) of patients who had an in-person visit for the same or a very similar diagnosis within 15 days of a non-hospital-based provider-to-patient telehealth visit for alcohol-related disorders. (7) Women. Sixty-five percent of all telehealth claim lines in the period 2014-2018 were associated with females. But for telehealth visits associated with a hospital discharge, 53 percent of claim lines were submitted for females. (8) Conditions. Acute upper respiratory infections were the number one reason individuals sought treatment from a provider for non-hospital-based telehealth in 2018. Such infections accounted for 16 percent of the distribution of claim lines for all telehealth visits of that kind. In second place was mood (affective) disorders, with six percent of the distribution; in third place was anxiety and other nonpsychotic mental disorders, with five percent of the distribution. (9) Implications in heart failure. In 2018, the telehealth diagnosis with the highest rate of patients who had an in-person visit within 15 days of a non-hospital-based provider-to-patient telehealth visit for the same or a very similar diagnosis was heart failure. Of patients diagnosed with this condition via telehealth, 57 percent were seen in person within 15 days. (10) Contraception. In 2018, the diagnosis with the lowest rate of in-person follow-up visits for the same or a very similar diagnosis within 15 days of a non-hospital-based provider-to-patient telehealth visit was encounters for contraceptive management; two percent of all patients whose claims reported that service via telehealth went on to have such an in-person visit.
- Copyright:
- Reproduced with permission of the copyright holder. Further use of the material is subject to CC BY-NC-ND license. (More information)
- Extent:
- 1 online resource (1 PDF file (34 pages))
- Illustrations:
- Illustrations
- NLM Unique ID:
- 101774946 (See catalog record)
- Permanent Link:
- http://resource.nlm.nih.gov/101774946