While still higher than pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels, telemedicine visits have begun to steadily decline across the U.S. since peaking in mid-April, according to a June 25 Commonwealth Fund report.
For the report, researchers from Harvard University and health tech company Phreesia analyzed data on changes in telemedicine visit volume for more than 50,000 providers and Phreesia clients.
Five report insights:
1. Telemedicine visits peaked the week of April 19 at 13.8 percent of providers' baseline total visits.
2. As of June 14, telemedicine visits made up 7.4 percent of providers' weekly baseline total visits.
3. As telemedicine visits began to fall, in-person visits started to slowly increase closer to pre-pandemic levels.
4. On April 5, in-person appointments were down 69 percent; by June 14, in-person visits climbed up to just 18 percent below normal visit numbers.
5. While telemedicine use is dropping, the researchers concluded that virtual visits are still substantially higher than prior to the pandemic.