The use of telemedicine surged to new levels last year, leading to record investments in companies that provide virtual services. But this momentum may be slowing, because a new report shows that the demand for telemedicine services began to decline at the beginning of this year, with a few states falling by more than a quarter.
After soaring to new highs in April and May last year, the demand for telemedicine services began to decline in early 2021. According to a report Trilliant Health, an analytics company based in Nashville. The results are based on claims data representing 309 million patients in all 50 states, including commercial and medical insurance claims.
“A lot of people go in person. They still prefer that one,” said Sanjula Jain, Trilliant’s chief research officer and report author. “Some people like telemedicine. But these trends are starting to weaken.”
Jain said that in general, only a few people in the United States generate most of the telemedicine visits.
“People are shocked that the demand for telemedicine is not as high as people think,” she said. “A small group of people generated the most transaction volume.”
According to a Trilliant report, after reaching new heights, telemedicine visits began to gradually decrease at the beginning of this year.
Position matters when calculating the states with the largest decline from the peak of the pandemic to the first quarter of 2021.For example, the utilization rate of telemedicine in South Dakota dropped by 37%, despite The state passed a bill The virtual visit will be allowed to continue without having to take a face-to-face exam first. According to the report, the utilization rate of telemedicine in Louisiana has also fallen by 30%. Visits from other states flattened out in the first quarter of 2021.
The main users of telemedicine have remained similar before and during the pandemic, even though the temporary closure of offices has driven the demand for virtual access. In 2020, more than one-third of telemedicine visits will be coded as mental or behavioral health visits. But since 2019, mental health has become the main use case for telemedicine and will continue to be maintained in 2021.
At the same time, more companies continue to launch or acquire telemedicine products, such as Amazon launching its own telemedicine products or Wal-Mart’s acquisition of MeMD. Listed telemedicine companies such as Teladoc and Amwell have relatively conservative forecasts for the rest of the year.
For example, Teladoc Expected to have 52 million to 54 million paying members By the end of 2021, it was only a slight increase from the 51.5 million paying members at the end of March.At the same time, Anwell Expected to be between 1.5 million and 1.6 million Visits through its medical team, compared to 1.6 million in 2020.
Photo credit: Anastasia Usenko, Getty Images
