American Hospital Association December 6, 2021
The number of Medicare visits conducted through telehealth surged 63-fold during the pandemic, from about 840,000 in 2019 to 52.7 million in 2020, according to a report released Friday by the Department of Health and Human Services. While overall health care visits for Medicare beneficiaries declined in 2020, telehealth was particularly helpful in offsetting potential foregone behavioral health care, comprising a third of total visits to behavioral health specialists compared with 8% of visits to primary care providers and 3% of visits to specialists, HHS said. Most beneficiaries (92%) received telehealth...