Telehealth Utilization Has Stabilized, Mental Health Departments Continue to See Highest Rates

The use of telehealth to provide services to patients swiftly increased in early 2020 in response to COVID-19 pandemic policies. In the initial stages of the pandemic, we published several studies outlining how the use of telehealth had evolved.^1,2,3 As stay-at-home policies began to expire and healthcare organizations started re-opening clinics for non-emergent care, the use of telehealth declined, but remained elevated from pre-pandemic levels. However, medical specialties varied in their continued use of telehealth. In November 2023, we shared telehealth utilization over time by specialty and observed that mental health departments were continuing to see a greater proportion of their patients through telehealth than any other specialty.⁴  

As healthcare organizations and policymakers consider ongoing investment and updating policies for care delivered through telehealth, we have launched a new data tracker to provide insight into trends in telehealth use over time and across a variety of specialties.  

Figure 1

Telehealth Utilization Data Tracker

Similar to what we found in our previous brief, mental health departments continue to provide care through telehealth at nearly three times the rates of most other specialties, with almost one-third of visits delivered through telehealth. We will continue to update this tracker regularly, so be sure to check back for the latest. 

These data come from Cosmos, a dataset created in collaboration with a community of Epic health systems representing more than 296 million patient records from 1,600 hospitals and more than 37,000 clinics from all 50 states, Lebanon, and Saudi Arabia. This study was completed by two teams that worked independently, each composed of a clinician and research scientists. The two teams came to similar conclusions.  

References

1. Epic Research. Expansion of Telehealth During COVID-19 Pandemic. Epic Research. https://epicresearch.org/articles/expansion-of-telehealth-during-covid-19-pandemic. Accessed on February 26, 2025.  
2. Fox B, Sizemore JO. As Office Visits Fall, Telehealth Takes Hold. Epic Research. https://epicresearch.org/articles/as-office-visits-fall-telehealth-takes-hold. Accessed on February 26, 2025. 
3. Fox B, Sizemore JO. Telehealth: Fad or the Future. Epic Research. https://epicresearch.org/articles/telehealth-fad-or-the-future. Accessed on February 26, 2025. 
4. Bartelt K, Piff A, Allen S, Barkley E. Telehealth Utilization Higher Than Pre-Pandemic Levels, but Down from Pandemic Highs. Epic Research. https://epicresearch.org/articles/telehealth-utilization-higher-than-pre-pandemic-levels-but-down-from-pandemic-highs. Accessed on February 26, 2025.