Supporting youth mental health via telehealth key for payers

Using information supplied by the data aggregating company Castlight Health contained in approximately 1.9 million claims by commercial health insurers, researchers with the RAND Corporation examined in-person and telehealth visits among individuals younger than 19 in three periods: pre-pandemic (Jan. 1, 2019, to March 12, 2020), acute pandemic when COVID-19 vaccines had not yet been available (March 13 to Dec. 17, 2020), and post-pandemic (Dec. 18, 2020, to August 31, 2022).

In-person pediatric mental health visits decline 42% during the acute pandemic phase while telehealth visits for the same period increased 3,027%...