Telehealth continues to be a rapidly growing service

Telehealth is booming, based on the claims private insurance companies are seeing. Looking through some 29 billion private insurance claims, analysts found that claims for telehealth grew by more than 620% between 2014 and 2018. Here’s more from the report: 

• Geography: Although telemedicine is still a small portion of health care, when it came to using telemedicine not associated with a hospital, urban areas saw the biggest growth — over 1,200% — while rural areas saw nearly 900% growth. 
• Age and sex: Those in the 31-40 age group used telehealth services the most, accounting for more than 20% of the claims. Nearly two-thirds of all claims for telehealth services were submitted for female patients. 
• Condition: Mirroring the primary care office, acute respiratory infections were also the most common reason for such visits.