Telehealth Utilization Plateaus but Pandemic Surges Are Still a Game Changer

Digital technology has laid the groundwork for the long-term shift of medical care from in-person to virtual settings. And while it didn’t start the movement, the COVID-19 pandemic certainly accelerated it. The AMA’s latest Physicians Practice Benchmark Survey offers new insight into the extent and direction of physician practice utilization of telehealth services both before and during the pandemic. Punchline: Between September 2018 and September 2020, telehealth utilization grew from 25 percent to nearly 80 percent. Telehealth Utilization Patterns The AMA’s Division of Economic and Health Policy Research has conducted the Physician Practice Benchmark Survey evaluating physician practice arrangements and payment methodologies for every year since 2012. The analysis draws from the responses of thousands of post-residency physicians who take care of patients for at least 20 hours per week and who don’t work for the federal government. The 2020 Benchmark Survey found that 58 percent of physicians used telehealth to diagnose or treat a patient in 2020, as compared to just 15.6 percent in 2018. The survey also breaks down telehealth utilization by particular applications: Video-based patient visits skyrocketed from less than 15 percent in 2018 to 70.3 percent in 2020; Two of three physicians (67 percent) reported that […]