Compiled by the New York-based telehealth scheduling company Zocdoc, the survey, taken separately of patients and care providers between May 2020 and May 2022 and combined with an analysis of appointment bookings, charts the increase in telehealth visits during the pandemic and a decrease in recent months as the COVID-19 crisis has waned. It found that roughly one-third of all visits were virtual in 2020, as the pandemic peaked, and that number dropped to 17% as of May 2022.

Unlike synchronous telehealth, which basically consists of a two-way, real-time audio-video feed between patient and care provider, asynchronous telehealth doesn’t involve real-time communication, and most often doesn’t include video. Consumers enter information into an online platform at their own time and convenience, usually through a questionnaire, and a care provider accesses that data on the other end then responds with a diagnosis and treatment plan. It can be done by phone or computer and include images and even video, but the key factor is that both patient and provider can access the platform at the time and place of their choosing.

The Acute Hospital Care at Home program was developed by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to reduce expensive hospitalizations and give patients the opportunity to receive care at home. Healthcare organizations were encouraged to launch these programs by CMS waivers enacted during the COVID-19 public health emergency that boost reimbursements and reduce barriers on the use of telehealth and other services.

The new study was published by HealthAffairs. The study is based on an analysis of claims data from Office Ally, a claims clearinghouse for Medicare, Medicaid, and commercial payers. The researchers compared mental health service utilization from time periods before and during the pandemic: 2016 to 2018 and March to December 2020.

New survey results indicate that “telehealth use will outlive the pandemic,” reported by Optum, UnitedHealth Group’s health services division, conducted fall 2021, which captured physician telehealth utilization including opportunities and frustrations.

The new research article, which was published by JAMA Network Open, examines the results of a quality improvement study of more than 130,000 scheduled video visits at an academic health system between March 1 and Dec. 31, 2020. Video visits were considered a success if the service was completed. Video visits were considered a failure if they were converted to a telephone visit.

In a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, American Telemedicine Association CEO Ann Mond Johnson said the PHE created “flexibilities that have allowed clinicians across the country to provide all Americans high-quality virtual care at a time of great need.”