Patient Office/Hospital Visits Down, Telemedicine Visits Up for Non-COVID-19 Health Issues

Health Transformation Alliance (HTA) Published results based on The paid claims data of 1.8 million...

Health Transformation Alliance (HTA) Published results based on The paid claims data of 1.8 million U.S. workers of their HTA member-owners and their relatives. The study consists of the indirect effect of COVID-19 on non-COVID-19-related pharmaceutical and medical usage and prices from January to October 2020 in comparison to January to October 2019. The entire report can be obtained here:

https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5dd7627311ef3935f7e976f0/t/60350b06368a5c5b58b64eff/1614088967323/HTA+COVID%2BIndirect%2BReportQ1+2021.pdf

Several Important findings in this report:

The Spring watched a pronounced COVID-19 dip in usage of health system by adults, even less so for child/baby health visits: Emergency room visits, hospital admissions, and doctor office visits for non-COVID-19-related health problems dropped considerably in April 2020 in comparison to April 2019. This was true for health visits, even though the reduction was less striking for baby and child health visits in contrast to mature health visits.

Spectacular increase in telemedicine visits: Offsetting the decrease in in-person visits proved to be a dramatic rise in telemedicine visits.

“These results imply that a permanent change in patient acceptance and use of telemedicine,” stated Lee Lewis, Transformation Alliance. “While the conventional office visits did Recuperate because the first shock of this pandemic, telemedicine usage Increased radically before settling in a plateau.”

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