After soaring to record heights at the beginning of the pandemic, telemedicine visits continued to decline. According to the latest data from FAIR Health, they dropped by 10% between May and June, based on claims from private insurance groups including Medicare Advantage.
According to FAIR Health, Telemedicine visits accounted for 4.5% of all claims in June, down from 5% last month. In contrast, in April 2020, when many offices suspended in-person visits, they accounted for 13% of claims.
Although telemedicine visits may decrease as more people go to see a doctor in person, this does not necessarily mean that virtual visits will disappear.Telemedicine visits are still much higher than the level before the pandemic, when they accounted for less than 1% of all claims. Several insurance companies have already A plan that emphasizes virtual care was recently launched.
One thing has remained the same: using telemedicine for mental health visits. Before the pandemic, it was the main use case for telemedicine, especially in recent months. In June, mental health issues accounted for 61% of all telemedicine claims, followed by respiratory diseases and joint or soft tissue diseases.
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