Studies

Better Medicare Alliance: Medicare Advantage Sees Fewer Covid-19 Hospitalizations In Beneficiaries And Offers Greater Access To In-Person And Telehealth Non-Covid Care During Pandemic A new data brief commissioned by Better Medicare Alliance, the leading research and advocacy organization supporting Medicare Advantage, finds that Medicare Advantage had a 19% lower rate of COVID-19 related hospitalizations during the first nine [...]

University of Michigan: Tele-psychiatry a resounding success in 5-year trial A five-year study published in JAMA Psychiatry found that telepsychiatry in rural, federally qualified health centers was a resounding success for patients who had screened positive for bipolar disorder and/or post-traumatic stress disorder, commonly known as PTSD. The trial, called The Study to Promote Innovation in Rural [...]

Mercer: 2021 Health on Demand Delivering the benefits employees want now A new report from employee benefits consultancy Mercer finds 73 percent of employees used telemedicine or other digital health solutions. Furthermore, more than three-quarters (77%) of individuals who used telemedicine or digital healthcare for the first time said they intent to keep using it, and 84 [...]

Healthcare Dive: Telehealth claims drop to lowest level since before pandemic, Fair Health finds According to new data from Fair Health, telehealth claim lines as a percentage of all medical claims dropped 10 percent from May to June, despite a month of stability. Virtual care claims fell from five percent of all medical claims in May to [...]

University of Michigan Institute for Healthcare Policy & Innovation: An evaluation of telehealth use by Medicare beneficiaries in 2020 This policy brief examined national Medicare claims data to better understand whether the use of telehealth led to an increase in the overall volume of outpatient evaluation and management (E&M) services delivered to Medicare beneficiaries. The [...]

Aledade: Getting the Price Right: Looking Toward the Future of Telehealth Aledade’s policy team provided their recommendations for a flexible and equitable payment model for telehealth services in their new policy paper Getting the Price Right: Looking Toward the Future of Telehealth. Aledade asserts that, in a value-based care model, integrating telehealth can help ensure that primary [...]

Chief Healthcare Executive: Telehealth Increased Healthcare Access for Hispanic, Low-Income Populations During COVID-19 A recent study published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research found that Hispanic and low-income communities had the largest percentage increase in telehealth use in response to the pandemic. Of the more than 4.5 million members of Kaiser Permanente Southern California that were [...]

STAT Opinion: 3 surprising trends in seniors’ telemedicine use during the pandemic This article highlights three findings about how telemedicine is used by Medicare beneficiaries, according to an analysis of 30 million Medicare claims: One in 10 telehealth-using Medicare beneficiaries accessed care through the telephone alone, suggesting that eliminating reimbursement for telephone-only calls could meaningfully [...]

Urology Times: Dr. Andino assesses how telemedicine can be used efficiently in future urological follow-up visits Juan José Andino, MD, discusses the takeaways of his study, “Video Visits are Practical for the Follow-up and Management of Established Male Infertility Patients,” as well as the future of telemedicine. “Being able to have a follow-up visit that [...]