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Medicare beneficiaries’ use of telehealth in 2020: trends by beneficiary characteristics and location
Medicare beneficiaries’ use of telehealth in 2020: trends by beneficiary characteristics and location
- Collection:
- Health Policy and Services Research
- Series Title(s):
- ASPE research report
- Author(s):
- Samson, Lok Wong, author
Tarazi, Wafa, author
Turrini, Gina, author
Sheingold, Steven, author - Contributor(s):
- United States. Department of Health and Human Services. Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation. Office of Health Policy, issuing body.
- Publication:
- Washington, D.C. : Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, Office of Health Policy, December 2021
- Language(s):
- English
- Format:
- Text
- Subject(s):
- Facilities and Services Utilization
Medicare -- statistics & numerical data
Telemedicine -- statistics & numerical data
Telemedicine -- trends
Ethnicity
Fee-for-Service Plans
Racial Groups
Rural Population -- statistics & numerical data
Urban Population -- statistics & numerical data
United States - Genre(s):
- Technical Report
- Abstract:
- The number of Medicare fee-for-service (FFS) beneficiary telehealth visits increased 63-fold in 2020, from approximately 840,000 in 2019 to nearly 52.7 million in 2020. Despite the increase in telehealth visits during the pandemic, total utilization of all Medicare FFS Part B clinician visits declined about 11% in 2020 compared to levels in 2019. Most beneficiaries (92%) received telehealth visits from their homes, which was not permissible in Medicare prior to the pandemic. Prior to the pandemic, telehealth made up less than 1% of visits across all visit specialties but increased substantially in 2020. Telehealth increased to 8% of primary care visits, while specialty care had smallest shift towards telehealth (3% of specialist visits). Visits to behavioral health specialists showed the largest increase in telehealth in 2020. Telehealth comprised a third of total visits to behavioral health specialists. While data limitations preclude clear identification of audio-only telehealth services, up to 70% of these telehealth visits during 2020 were potentially reimbursable for audio-only services. Black and rural beneficiaries had lower use of telehealth compared with White and urban beneficiaries, respectively. Telehealth use varied by state, with higher use in the Northeast and West, and lower in the Midwest and South.
- Copyright:
- The National Library of Medicine believes this item to be in the public domain. (More information)
- Extent:
- 1 online resource (1 PDF file (34 pages))
- Illustrations:
- Illustrations
- NLM Unique ID:
- 9918574277106676 (See catalog record)
- Permanent Link:
- http://resource.nlm.nih.gov/9918574277106676