PAVC welcomes you to #TelehealthTuesday, an effort demonstrating the valuable role that telehealth has played during the pandemic, and the role that it can continue to play if current flexibilities are extended beyond the public health emergency. Each week, we’ll be releasing a new data visualization based on publicly-available Medicare data.
Week 2
January 31, 2023
This week we are looking at how telehealth is most often used. According to our data, most telehealth is used for evaluation and management (E/M) services for established patients, psychiatry, and specialists. After an initial spike in April 2020, E/M telehealth visits for established patients and specialists have held steady from May thru December 2021. The volume for psychiatry visits has remained virtually consistent since the start of the PHE, demonstrating the continued importance of telehealth for behavioral health.
Week 1
January 24, 2023
Telehealth Tuesday is back for 2023! This week, our data shows that more than 9.5 million Medicare Fee-for-Service beneficiaries received care via telehealth in 2021. Although telehealth use was lower in 2021 than in 2020, the traditional Medicare program saw at least 2 million telehealth visits per month, demonstrating telehealth’s continued importance even as the public health emergency unwinds.
2022 Posts
Week 11
March 28, 2022
This week’s nationwide map demonstrates that Medicare beneficiaries across the country benefited from telehealth in 2020. Specifically, 41% of all Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries (approximately 14.8 million people) had at least one telehealth encounter in 2020, and in approximately 85% of the counties listed on the map, 18% to 50% of their Medicare beneficiaries had at least one telehealth encounter. This widespread use of telehealth throughout the country demonstrates the need to preserve access to these important services post-PHE.
Week 10
March 21, 2022
Week 10 completes our two-part series started in Week 8, and continues to focus on those with the greatest health needs (i.e. those with chronic health conditions). Week 7’s data demonstrated that this group of chronically ill individuals were more likely to use telehealth at the start of the PHE. This week’s data demonstrates that telehealth among this group is still a valuable and utilized service, even after in-person care resumed.
Week 9
March 15, 2022
This week, we provide a telehealth policy update. Specifically, we focus on the FY 2022 omnibus appropriations package, which includes provisions to extend certain telehealth flexibilities related to the public health emergency (PHE) for 151 days—approximately five months—after the PHE ends. The following charts detail these flexibility extensions within their broader telehealth policy context, along with the telehealth flexibilities not addressed in the omnibus bill that would require further congressional action to be extended or made permanent.
Week 8
March 8, 2022
Week 8, part one of another two-part series, continues our focus on those with the greatest health needs (i.e. high number of ER visits in the year before the pandemic). In Week 6, which was focused on this group of patients, the data demonstrated that they were more likely to use telehealth at the start of the PHE. This week’s data demonstrates how telehealth use among this group remained high, even as in-person care resumed in the second half of 2020.
Week 7
March 1, 2022
Week 7, part two of a two-part series, focuses on how beneficiaries with the greatest needs (i.e. those with chronic health conditions) were more likely to use telehealth at the start of the Public Health Emergency (PHE).
Week 6
February 22, 2022
Week 6, part one of a two-part series, focuses on how beneficiaries with the greatest needs (i.e. high number of ER visits in the year before the pandemic) were more likely to use telehealth at the start of the Public Health Emergency (PHE).
Week 5
February 15, 2022
Week 5 focuses on how telehealth demand remained strong in 2020 among vulnerable beneficiary groups (dually-eligible and disabled beneficiaries), even as in-person care returned in the second half of the year.
Week 4
February 8, 2022
Week 4 focuses on how broadband increases access to telehealth, and that while Medicare beneficiaries nationwide have benefited from increased access to telehealth, more can be done to improve access. For example, more than 10 million Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries reside in counties where less than 80% of households have broadband access, underscoring the need to improve access to broadband.
Week 3
February 1, 2022
Week 3, focuses on how telehealth has improved access to primary care, mental and behavioral health. Notably, telehealth helped to greatly offset a more than 40% drop in in-person encounters for behavioral health in 2020, helping to provide access to these services during the pandemic.
Week 2
January 25, 2022
Week 2 focuses on the role that telehealth plays for vulnerable patient populations—including Medicare-Medicaid dual eligible beneficiaries and end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients. The data clearly demonstrate that telehealth is a valuable source of care among low-income beneficiaries and ESRD patients. Access to telehealth services beyond the current PHE can continue to improve care options for these vulnerable patient populations.
Week 1
January 18, 2022
Week 1 focuses on how the flexibilities implemented by Congress and the Administration at the beginning of the pandemic allowed telehealth services to offset the dramatic drop in in-person care for Medicare fee-for-service (FFS) beneficiaries that was seen at the start of the pandemic. From March through December of 2020, over 14 million Medicare FFS beneficiaries received care via telehealth.
