Current data on telemedicine use by specialty

December 13, 2023

Portion of office visits conducted via telemedicine

Source: Bartelt, et al Epic Research November 21, 2023 LINK

Epic, the most commonly used electronic health record system, published data last month on about 475 million virtual and in-person visits associated with each of their associated health care delivery systems from 2019 to 2023.  Virtual visits peaked at over 30% of visits during Q2 of 2020, the initial peak of the COVID-19 pandemic.  They have stabilized at about 5% of total visits, although continue to represent over a third of mental health visits.

Telemedicine Use by Specialty

Implications for employers:

-        Virtual visits continue to play an important role in health care delivery, especially in increasing access to mental health care.

-        Some provider organizations are using virtual visits to obtain payment for phone calls that would previously have been offered without charge. Population payment and bundled payments would avert this problem.

-        To assess the impact of virtual visits on cost of care, we can evaluate over time how many virtual visits are replacing in-person visits, and what portion of these visits represent new services.

Tomorrow: Smoking rates continue to decline

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