Telebehavioral Health, In-Person, and Hybrid Modalities of Treatment Delivery Among US Service Members: Longitudinal...

Area of Science:

• Behavioral Health
• Health Services Research
• Military Health System

Background:

• Telebehavioral health use surged during the COVID-19 pandemic, remaining elevated post-pandemic.
• Understanding treatment modality use is crucial for future behavioral health care delivery.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore behavioral health use patterns by treatment modality (telehealth, in-person, hybrid) among active duty service members.
• To compare treatment modalities based on visit frequency and intervals to assess care metrics.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of 588,928 active duty service members from October 1, 2015, to September 30, 2021.
• Matching personnel data with medical reimbursement records to extract diagnostic and treatment codes.
• Calculating total visits, modality, and average intervals between visits for each service member.

Main Results:

• Hybrid care was utilized by 36.31% of service members, while 59.57% received in-person only and 4.12% telehealth only.
• Hybrid care was more common for 8 of 12 conditions, including PTSD and major depressive disorder.
• Hybrid care patients averaged 8x more visits than telehealth-only and 3x more than in-person-only patients. Telehealth-only had the shortest intervals between visits.

Conclusions:

• Telebehavioral health, especially in hybrid models, increases healthcare visits and reduces intervals, demonstrating its value in the Military Health System.
• A flexible care delivery approach incorporating telehealth, in-person, and hybrid options is recommended to meet service members' behavioral health needs.