Telehealth accounts for more than one-third of outpatient mental health or substance abuse services two years after COVID-19 began to surge across the U.S., a new analysis from the Kaiser Family Foundation and Epic Research shows.
In March of 2020, about 40% of mental health and substance abuse visits were via telehealth as government shutdowns and in-person clinics shut down across the U.S. but a new report Tuesday from the Kaiser Family Foundation and Epic Research, a division of the large electronic record company, showed telehealth continues an “outsized role meeting mental health needs” in the U.S.
The report showing 36% of mental health and substance abuse treatment continues to be conducted by telehealth platforms is significant and underscores the demand.
“In-person care has returned and telehealth visits have dropped off to represent 5% of other outpatient care visits, those without a mental health or substance use claim in the March-August 2021 period,” the Kaiser and Epic analysis said. “However, telehealth use has remained strong for mental health and substance use treatment, still representing 36% of these outpatient visits.”
The report comes as more and larger players are entering the business of telehealth services even as COVID-19 cases subside. The online retailer Amazon earlier this year launched a nationwide telehealth platform while drugstore chains Walgreens, CVS Health and Walmart have expanded telehealth to their growing healthcare businesses.
Meanwhile, large health insurance companies including Anthem, Cigna, United Health Group and array of Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans have expanded their access to mental health services as part of the push to treat the “whole person” rather than just the medical side of health plan enrollees.
The new analysis examined outpatient visits during five six-month periods between March 2019 and August 2021, using data from more than 126 million patients from over 156 Epic organizations, including 889 hospitals and 19,420 clinics across all 50 states.
