Increased Use of Medicare Telehealth During the Pandemic

Medicare beneficiaries are making millions more telehealth visits since the COVID-19 pandemic began, according to a recent report.

Researchers in HHS’ Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation reviewed 2019 and 2020 Medicare health care utilization trends. The authors found that overall Medicare Part B visits—when accounting for both in-person and telehealth—decreased from 1.1 billion in 2019 to approximately 989 million in 2020. However, 2020 telehealth visits increased to 52.7 million from approximately 840 000 in 2019. Ninety-two percent of telehealth visits occurred in beneficiaries’ homes, which generally wasn’t...