Medical Economics June 30, 2022
Most are established patients getting treatment for routine diagnoses
Opponents of the loosened interstate telehealth restrictions that were instituted at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic argued that it would result in out-of-state doctors luring patients away from their current physicians. But a new study finds that most out-of-state telehealth is used for continuity of care, not acquiring new patients.
The study compares interstate telehealth use among Medicare beneficiaries after March 2020, when all 50 states and the District of Columbia instituted temporary measures allowing clinicians to treat patients in other states via telehealth, with telehealth’s interstate use during the years 2017-19.
Using data from a national, random 20% sample of Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries, the authors analyzed how rates of...
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