Telehealth visits increased by an eye-popping amount among UnitedHealthcare members compared to pre-pandemic levels.
Utilization in 2021 increased to 28 million virtual care visits — a 2,500% increase — with about half of those visits being for behavioral health issues. And within behavioral health, 63% of all visits were conducted via telehealth, according to a report by healthleadersmedia.com.
Across all UnitedHealthcare behavioral health claims in 2021, about 66% were for virtual care. Compare that to 1.5% of behavioral claims being for virtual care in 2019, UnitedHealthcare CMO Dr. Donna O’Shea told HealthLeaders.
UnitedHealthcare, the health insurance arm of the Minnetonka, Minnesota-based health care behemoth UnitedHealth Group Inc. (NYSE: UNH), is the largest insurer in the U.S. The company commands a 15% market share in the U.S., according to an analysis by the American Medical Association. The company covered about 51 million people globally, according to its latest earnings report.
“Virtual care visits in 2021 by UnitedHealthcare members approximately matched the total for 2020, with continued significant use of telehealth so far in 2022,” O’Shea told HealthLeaders.
The experience of UnitedHealthcare appears to be another indication that telehealth is likely to be a permanent fixture in health care, especially in behavioral health, from here on out.
The pandemic and related government responses to it drove patients out of offices and onto virtual platforms to continue care as a way to mitigate the spread of the virus in public settings.
Since the onset of the pandemic, telehealth utilization in behavioral health exploded and remains high, especially in comparison to other segments of health care.
Less than 1% of mental health and substance use disorder outpatient visits were done via telehealth in the six months before the onset of the pandemic in the U.S. Then that percentage share jumped to 40% from March 2020 to August 2020, according to an analysis by Kaiser Family Foundation.
From March to August 2o21, 36% of mental health and substance use disorder visits were conducted via telehealth while only 5% of all other outpatient visits were conducted via telehealth, according to the KFF analysis.
The telehealth push for behavioral health extended across age demographics. The federal government reported that telebehavioral health visits provided to Medicare beneficiaries increased by 32x — or by 3,090% — in 2020 compared to 2019.
The proliferation of telehealth has wide implications and opportunities for behavioral health providers.
Previous Behavioral Health Business reporting shows that most providers are continuing to operate with higher levels of telehealth utilization while expanding their physical footprints. However, a mental health market leader, Lifestance Health, is slightly throttling its de novo expansions in 2022. Iris Telehealth, an Austin, Texas-based telepsychiatry services provider, announced a $40 million Series B funding round last week.