Update: A Deeper Dive Confirms Telemedicine Use Waxes and Wanes Along with COVID-19

Recently, we shared data indicating that use of telemedicine appears to be on the decline following a brief period of increased utilization. Now an article published by JAMA Network confirms that those fluctuations tracked along with the COVID-19 pandemic, while also shedding light on who was drawn to virtual visits when in-person care seemed too daunting to some patients. Specifically, data from the IQVIA National Disease and Therapeutic Index showed that 77% of telehealth “visits” during the second, third, and fourth quarters of 2020 concerned long-term conditions (compared with 58% with in-person visits), while 27% were for short-term complaints (23% in-person). Very few virtual visits were (3%) were “preventive,” compared with 26% when it came to visiting a brick-and-mortar location. Overall, 24% of the care given during the survey period was virtual. Interestingly, roughly half of office-based visits and two-thirds of virtual visits were for established patients. Telemedicine visits jumped from 3 million in 2019 to 9 million in the first quarter of 2020 alone, then to 72 million in the second quarter. By the third quarter of last year, telehealth visits were back to 44 million.