Telehealth Claim Lines Increase 4,132 Percent Nationally from June 2019 to June 2020 - PRNewswire

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NEW YORK, Sept. 2, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Telehealth claim lines[1] increased 4,132 percent nationally from June 2019 to June 2020, rising from 0.16 percent of medical claim lines in June 2019 to 6.85 percent in June 2020, according to new data from FAIR Health's Monthly Telehealth Regional Tracker. Although considerable, that increase was less than the year-to-year increase the previous month, when telehealth claim lines increased 5,680 percent nationally, from 0.15 percent of medical claim lines in May 2019 to 8.69 percent in May 2020.The data represent the privately insured population, excluding Medicare and Medicaid.

While increasing greatly from 2019 to 2020, telehealth claim lines fell 21 percent nationally on a month-to-month basis, from 8.69 percent of medical claim lines in May 2020 to 6.85 percent in June 2020.

Trends in the four US census regions (Midwest, Northeast, South and West) were similar to those in the nation as a whole. In each region, there were large percent increases in volume of claim lines from June 2019 to June 2020, but these increases were smaller than the increases from May 2019 to May 2020. In addition, in each region, there was a drop in volume of claim lines from May 2020 to June 2020. The biggest drop was in the Northeast, where the decrease from May to June was 33 percent, from 12.5 percent of medical claim lines to 8.4 percent.

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is suggested by the higher telehealth utilization from March to June 2020 in comparison with the same months in 2019. In March and April 2020, many states prohibited in-person rendering of elective procedures and non-emergency medical care, making telehealth an attractive alternative. Many of these prohibitions expired in May as states began to open up, perhaps accounting for the drop in the telehealth share of total medical claim lines in May and June relative to April. However, as the pandemic continued, telehealth usage remained high by comparison with 2019.

Other notable findings of the Monthly Telehealth Regional Tracker concern the top five telehealth diagnoses:

Mental health conditions, already the number one telehealth diagnosis nationally and in every region in May 2020, accounted for an even larger share of telehealth claim lines in June 2020. Nationally, this diagnosis increased from 40 percent to 44 percent of telehealth claim lines from May to June 2020. Increases in the Northeast and Midwest were particularly notable, with claims in the Northeast increasing from 41 percent in May to 48 percent in June, and in the Midwest from 49 percent in May to 54 percent in June.
Exposure to communicable diseases was the number five diagnosis in the South and in the West in June. This diagnosis did not appear among the top five diagnoses nationally or regionally in May.

Launched in May 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. In addition to data on the volume of claim lines, diagnoses and urban versus rural usage, each infographic includes findings on the top five telehealth procedure codes.

FAIR Health is a national, independent nonprofit organization dedicated to bringing transparency to healthcare costs and health insurance information. FAIR Health President Robin Gelburd stated, "It is clear that the COVID-19 pandemic is having a substantial impact on telehealth. FAIR Health's Monthly Telehealth Regional Tracker shows the specifics of how this venue of care is being transformed."

For the Monthly Telehealth Regional Tracker, click here.

About FAIR Health

FAIR Health, a national, independent nonprofit organization that qualifies as a public charity under section 501(c)(3) of the tax code, 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 32 billion claim records contributed by payors and administrators who insure or process claims for private insurance plans covering more than 150 million individuals. 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 and an English/Spanish mobile app, which enable consumers to estimate and plan for their healthcare expenditures and offer a rich educational platform on health insurance. 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 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
Director of Marketing, Outreach & Communications
FAIR Health
646-396-0795
[email protected]

[1] A claim line is an individual service or procedure listed on an insurance claim.

SOURCE FAIR Health