In mid-May, the Commonweath Fund, Harvard University, and Phreesia collaborated to publish findings of COVID-19 impacts on outpatient visits and telehealth; this provides an update to an earlier April publication. From mid-February to mid-May, data from more than 50,000 providers from Phreesia’s client base and more than 12 million visits was analyzed.
According to the latest findings, “As in-person visits dropped, telehealth visits increased rapidly before plateauing. The rebound in visits is due to more in-person visits rather than more telemedicine visits.” The research found the rebound in visits to be true across all specialties studied (see chart below). Providers reported consistent data “in the initial decline and resulting rebound in visits” regardless of organization’s size.
Age, however, does appear to factor in to the rebound levels. Older adults are showing higher levels for rebounding in doctor visits versus school-age children when comparing April to May data. For example, those aged 65-74 showed a 61% decline in visits for the week starting April 5th but only a 30% decline in visits for the week starting May 10th. Children aged 6-17 recorded a 71% drop in visits the week starting April 5th and a 53% decrease in visits the week starting May 10th.
The Commonwealth Fund “promote[s] a high-performing health care system that achieves better access, improved quality, and greater efficiency, particularly for society’s most vulnerable, including low-income people, the uninsured, and people of color. The Fund carries out this mandate by supporting independent research on health care issues and making grants to improve health care practice and policy. An international program in health policy is designed to stimulate innovative policies and practices in the United States and other industrialized countries,” states their website.
One of the group’s researchers, David Linetsky, Phreesia’s SVP Life Sciences, also joined DTC Perspectives for our virtual DTC National: May event discussing the Point of Care space. Click here to hear more insights: https://www.dtcperspectives.com/virtual-dtcn/view-past-webinars/
No comments yet.