Telehealth Delivery Differs Significantly By Physician And Practice Characteristics

Area of Science:

• Health Services Research
• Digital Health
• Medical Informatics

Background:

• The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the adoption of telehealth services.
• Understanding patterns of telehealth utilization is crucial for healthcare policy and resource allocation.
• Medicare fee-for-service claims provide a large-scale dataset for analyzing healthcare delivery trends.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify physician and practice characteristics associated with higher proportions of telehealth visits.
• To analyze telehealth utilization patterns within the Medicare fee-for-service population in 2022.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of 2022 Medicare fee-for-service claims data.
• Examination of visit delivery methods (in-person vs. telehealth).
• Stratification of analysis by physician demographics, specialty, and practice location.

Main Results:

• Female physicians delivered a higher proportion of telehealth visits compared to male physicians.
• Primary care physicians and psychiatrists utilized telehealth more frequently than other specialties.
• Physicians in nonrural practices had higher telehealth utilization rates than those in rural practices.

Conclusions:

• Telehealth adoption in 2022 varied significantly by physician and practice characteristics.
• Findings suggest targeted strategies may be needed to ensure equitable telehealth access across different patient populations and geographic areas.
• Further research should explore the impact of these utilization patterns on health outcomes and healthcare costs.