At a Glance | October 21, 2021 Telemedicine Usage Increases During Pandemic, but With a Twist FACE-TO-FACE VS. TELEMEDICINE Face-to-Face and Telemedicine Appointments per 1,000 Enrollees Telemedicine visits soared Face-to-Face Visits Telemedicine Appointments during March 2020, when states issued stay-at-home orders Stay-at-home Stay-at-home and health care providers orders begin orders begin suspended nearly all in-person 3.1k Telemedicine-as-a-medium outpatient services. Patient utilizes video or remote 2.6k 2.8k 2.8k monitoring technologies to engage 2.6k Telemedicine visits have with a doctor with whom they already remained persistently higher have a relationship 81 than their prepandemic trends; this is especially true for Telemedicine-as-a-service telemedicine-as-a-medium. Services are delivered via a third-party platform and in which the patient 1.4k has no pre-existing relationship with 36 health care providers 31 23 8 11 10 12 1 1 0 0 0 2017 2018 2019 2020 2017 2018 2019 2020 WHAT MAKES TELEMEDICINE MORE Ratio of the Likelihood of a Health Care Visit Being Conducted via Telemedicine LIKELY? A patient being female, being Telemedicine-as-a-Medium Telemedicine-as-a-Service Variable / Type of Care the named policyholder, or seeking care for respiratory or Respiratory Issue 9.04 6.17 mental health issues increased Named Policyholder 2.5 1.64 the likelihood of the visit being conducted via telemedicine. Mental Illness 2.21 5.33 Face-to face was used more Ill-Defined Symptoms 1.63 1.71 frequently for musculoskeletal Gender (Female = 1) 1.47 1.34 and connective tissue problems. The presence of the COVID-19 Age 0.99 1 pandemic was also a significant Circulatory 0.88 1.72 factor in increasing the likelihood of telemedicine visits, Charlson Comorbidity Index 0.82 0.9 especially telemedicine-as-a- Digestive 0.81 1.16 service. Musculoskeletal 0.25 0.48 Pandemic Dummy 3.79 13.03 SOURCE: Spiegel, Jake, “Who, What, When, Where, and Why: Trends in Telemedicine Usage From 2016–2020,” EBRI Issue Brief, no. 534 (Employee Benefit Research Institute, August 5, 2021). © 2021 EBRI This report is copyrighted by the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI). You may copy, print, or download this report solely for personal and noncommercial use, provided that all hard copies retain any and all copyright and other applicable notices contained therein, and you may cite or quote small portions of the report provided that you do so verbatim and with proper citation. Any use beyond the scope of the foregoing requires EBRI’s prior express permission. For permissions, please contact EBRI at permissions@ebri.org. Decreased likelihood Increased likelihood