Telehealth surges in Southern states, leading a national trend
COVID-19 was among the top five telehealth diagnoses in August nationally for first time since January.
Telehealth utilization in the South, measured as a percentage of all medical claim lines in that region, increased nearly 13% from July to August, according to the FAIR Health Monthly Telehealth Regional Tracker.
By comparison, telehealth usage in August rose nationally by 2.4%, with all U.S. census regions except the Midwest experiencing an increase. The data reflects that of the privately insured population, including Medicare Advantage but excluding Medicare Fee-for-Service and Medicaid. FAIR Health is an independent nonprofit organization dedicated to health care transparency.
Related: Telehealth levels off at 20% or less of appointment volume
Nationally and in the South, the August increase halted two months of decline in telehealth utilization. FAIR Health officials attribute the bump to a peak surge in COVID-19 cases, driven in the South by the Delta variant.
“This may suggest that the increase in telehealth use has been propelled by patients and providers seeking a venue of care that reduced the risk of disease transmission,” according to a statement from FAIR Health.
COVID-19 was among the top five telehealth diagnoses nationally in August for the first time since January 2021 — ranking fifth nationally but third in the South. The only region where COVID-19 did not appear in the top five was the Northeast.
August’s top telehealth diagnosis?
Mental health conditions remained the top-ranking telehealth diagnosis nationally and in every region, according to the tracker, but the number of such diagnoses dropped.
In the South, for example, mental health conditions’ share of telehealth claim lines fell from 50.1 percent in July to 47.5 percent in August. The decrease may have been related to having a greater share of non-mental health conditions, including COVID-19, move to telehealth because of the pandemic surge, according to FAIR Health.
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 U.S. census regions — West, Midwest, Northeast and South — allows users to view an infographic on telehealth in a specific month, either nationally or in individual regions.
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