Changes to Depression-Related Health Care Encounters and Telehealth Adoption in the COVID-19 Era

This study aimed to explore changes in the incidence of depression-related health care encounters following the COVID-19 pandemic among patients diagnosed with depressive disorders and characterized those who had transitioned their care largely to telehealth.

This retrospective study included adults diagnosed with depressive disorders in the 2018-2021 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS). We assessed encounter rates and telehealth use in depression-related care. Encounter rates were compared through zero-truncated negative-binomial models. Weighted logistic regression models were used to explore factors associated with the transition of depression-related care to telehealth.

We found a statistically significant increase in depression-related encounters following the COVID-19 pandemic (incident rate ratios: 1.42, 95% confidence interval: 1.20-1.68). Logistic regression results showed no statistically significant differences in telehealth transitions among the included sociodemographic variables.

Patients with depressive disorders had significant increase in depression-related encounters. The odds of transitioning to telehealth for depression-related care were not statistically different among common sociodemographic groups.