When the COVID-19 pandemic led to a temporary shutdown of many in-person healthcare services, telehealth became a lifeline for millions of Americans.
Use of the technology soared throughout 2020, prompting new flexibilities for providers to bill for these services. Once vaccines were introduced in 2021 and as in-person services resumed, however, telehealth use fell off a cliff, dropping 76% from 2020 to 2021, according to a new report from Fair Health.
The drastic dropoff in telehealth utilization happened as retail clinical utilization increased 51% over the same time period. The increase aligns with an ongoing trend of more consumers using alternative sites of care, such as retailers and urgent care centers, rather than physician offices and inpatient facilities.
The increased use in telehealth from the pandemic has led many major healthcare players and new entrants to expand or create new telehealth services programs. For example, Amazon and Walmart both recently launched new telehealth programs since the pandemic. More recently, healthcare technology giant Philips announced a new virtual care services program this month.
For example, utilization of urgent care centers increased 14% from 2020 to 2021, while ambulatory service centers and emergency rooms saw a 7% and 15% decrease, respectively. In 2021, Rhode Island, Maine, Arkansa, Connecticut and Georgia were the five states where retail clinic claim lines constituted the greatest percentage of medical claim lines. Minnesota fell off the list in 2021 after having ranked first in 2018, third in 2019 and fifth in 2020, the report stated.
While telehealth utilization tanked compared to 2020, its usage was still elevated compared to pre-pandemic years. The national telehealth utilization grew 5,017% nationally from 2016 to 2021, though 2020 played a big role in that jump.
“This high rate of growth was due in large part to widespread limits on in-office services imposed at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020,” Fair Health noted.
However, telehealth held the highest percentage of medical claim lines in 2021, with 3.7% of all medical claim lines nationally among the alternative places of service studied (retail clinics (0.1%), urgent care centers (1.5%), telehealth and ASCs).
Interestingly, the gap between male and female claims narrowed in 2021, though there were more claims for female patients than males as in years past.
“The female share in the 19-30 age range in retail clinics had been close to 70[%] in 2019, it was 64[%] in 2020 and 60[%] to 63[%] in 2021,” the report said.
Also in 2021, COVID-19 became a top diagnostic category among retail clinics, urgent care centers, telehealth and ERs for those 22 and older.
Amy joined TriMed Media as a Senior Writer for HealthExec after covering home care for three years. When not writing about all things healthcare, she fulfills her lifelong dream of becoming a pirate by sailing in regattas and enjoying rum. Fun fact: she sailed 333 miles across Lake Michigan in the Chicago Yacht Club "Race to Mackinac."