FAIR Health’s Monthly Telehealth Regional Tracker (Figure 1).
This marks the third straight month of growth in nationwide telemedicine usage, a trend that began in November. Telemedicine use also increased in all four census regions in January: Midwest (9.5%), West (9.5%), South (6.7%), and Northeast (3.2%). This data represents the privately insured population, which includes Medicare Advantage and excludes Medicare service delivery costs and Medicaid.
Starting January 2023, FAIR Health’s monthly telemedicine regional tracker will enter its fourth year of monthly telemedicine evolution reports. An interactive map of US Census regions allows users to view telemedicine infographics for a given month for the entire country or individual regions.
This fourth year brings notable changes to Telehealth Tracker. In the first year, each month in 2020 was compared to his 2019 counterpart to explore the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on telemedicine. In the second year, the focus shifted to month-to-month change rather than year-over-year. In its third year, new features were added, such as a telemedicine cost corner that presents specific telemedicine procedure codes and their central charges and central allowances. The telehealth cost corner continues in his fourth year, as does the top five telehealth diagnoses and percent change in percent of telehealth medical claim lines. New features include voice-only telemedicine usage (urban and rural) and top 5 diagnostics with asynchronous telemedicine.
Using voice-only telemedicine
From December 2022 to January 2023, voice-only telemedicine usage declined nationally and in all regions. The largest decline was seen in the South, where voice-only telemedicine usage declined 16.6% in rural areas, from 7.2% of telemedicine claim lines in December to 6.0% in January. from 12.2% in urban areas to 12.8% in urban areas. December line to January 10.6% (Figure 2). Utilization of voice-only telemedicine services was generally higher in rural areas than in urban areas, higher in urban areas in the South, and approximately equal in rural and urban areas in the West in January, with telemedicine claims was 3.0% of line.
asynchronous telemedicine
January 2023, telemedicine where data is stored and transferred (electronically transmitted blood pressure or other heart-related measurements, glycosylated hemoglobin [A1C] infection level)—varies by region. In the country and south, there were acute respiratory diseases and infections. In the Northeast and Midwest, it was mental health.In the West, it was meeting for screenings.
Hypertension ranked second among the top five diagnoses by asynchronous telemedicine in all regions except the United States and the South, which ranked fourth.
diagnose
From December 2022 to January 2023, among the top five telemedicine diagnoses nationwide, developmental disorders and joint/soft tissue diseases and problems alternate, with the former rising from fifth to fourth place and the latter Dropped from 4th to 5th place.
COVID-19, which ranked 3rd among the top 5 telemedicine diagnoses nationally and in all regions in December in January, fell from the top 5 in the Midwest and West to 4th in the South. fell into COVID-19 remained third for him nationwide and in the Northeast.
cost
The January 2023 Telehealth Cost Corner spotlighted CPT 90834, the cost of 45 minutes of psychotherapy. Nationally, the median bill for this service when delivered via telemedicine was $151.44, and the median amount granted was $95.02.
As the Monthly Telehealth Regional Tracker enters its fourth year, FAIR Health has revised it again to meet stakeholders’ changing needs for up-to-date information on this place of care. We look forward to another year of tracking the evolution of telemedicine.
Click here for the monthly Telehealth Regional Tracker.
