Athenahealth Makes Trove Of Telehealth Trend Data Available

Health IT vendor Athenahealth has launched a dashboard offering users a look at telehealth encounter data generated by its customers, and some of the trends it identified are quite interesting.

Athenahealth’s Telehealth Insights dashboard offers data on trends in telehealth adoption and use among the 60,000 providers using its network. The database includes de-identified data from 18.4 million telehealth appointments. The current dashboard draws on data collected between 11/1/2020 and 1/31/2021, but Athenahealth will update the dataset monthly.

Among the trends identified by the dashboard is a breakdown of telehealth use among various specialties by volume. Mental health topped the list, with 33% of visits being held virtually, followed by primary care (17%), pediatrics (9%), cardiology (7%) and OB/GYN (4%).

The data also identified differences in how telehealth encounters were scheduled and conducted.

For example, an analysis of the data found telehealth visits are two times as likely to be scheduled for the same day as in-person appointments. Also, telehealth visits were more likely to be under 15 minutes long (70%) compared with in-person visits (62%). In addition, they were slightly more likely to take place after hours or on weekends (7% telehealth vs. 4% in-person visits).

All three of these stats point to a demand for quick, accessible care that apparently isn’t being met. Observers have been warning primary care practices, in particular, that they need to offer more convenient hours and services, including telehealth, but many still seem to be at the early stages.

Meanwhile, telehealth encounters were more likely to be scheduled by already-established patients (19%) but a smaller number of new patients were launching relationships with new patients via telehealth appointments (12%).

In perhaps the least surprising finding of the bunch, younger patients aged 16 to 30 (11.4%) and ages 31 to 60 (12.2%) were more likely to book telehealth visits than people over 60.

As I reported previously, one research study found that millions of U.S. seniors weren’t prepared to participate fully in telehealth visits due to a lack of technical knowledge or health issues.

An interesting side note drawn from the data, however, was that while patients aged 60+ booked fewer telehealth appointments than younger patients (elders accounted for 8.8%), things were much different in practices that had a relatively high rate of overall telehealth usage.

In fact, patients aged 61+ seen at high-utilizing practices used telehealth a whopping 4.5 times more than somewhat younger patients (aged 31 to 60) in low-utilization practices. (Athenahealth didn’t share its criteria for high vs. low utilization.)

My guess, in this case, is that in high-utilization practices, the entire practice culture shifts to support booking such appointments. That definitely squares with my own experience. When I was seen recently at my primary care practice, they let it be known that telehealth might be a possibility just five minutes before my last appointment. I had been interested in a video visit but couldn’t even figure out where to look for one or whom to ask.

The broad trends here seem clear:  When telehealth is part of your practice, younger people will use it, though perhaps not in high numbers. On the other hand, when a practice puts telehealth front and center in its plans – for any number of reasons – it’s likely patients will join the party.

About the author

Anne Zieger

Anne Zieger is a healthcare journalist who has written about the industry for 30 years. Her work has appeared in all of the leading healthcare industry publications, and she's served as editor in chief of several healthcare B2B sites.

   

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