JAMA Health Forum: Audio-Only Telehealth Use Among Traditional Medicare Beneficiaries

JAMA Health Forum: Audio-Only Telehealth Use Among Traditional Medicare Beneficiaries

Medicare expanded telehealth coverage during the COVID-19 pandemic, including for audio-only visits. In this cross-sectional study, telehealth visits as a proportion of all E&M visits and audio-only visits as a proportion of all telehealth visits decreased from 2020 to 2022. Nevertheless, audio-only visits represented a quarter of all telehealth visits in 2022. Compared with beneficiaries who received only in-person care or audiovisual visits in addition to in-person care, those who received audio-only care were more likely to be African American or Black, have medically complex conditions, and be dually eligible. Restrictions on audio-only visits may disproportionately affect these beneficiaries.