Female physicians working in nonrural practices deliver care more frequently via telehealth, according to a Sept. 3 study published in Health Affairs.
The study analyzed Medicare fee-for-service claims data from 2022 in an effort to determine which patients and providers would be affected by changes to telehealth policy that could take place at the end of 2024. Lawmakers are considering codifying or expanding Medicare flexibilities implemented after the COVID-19 pandemic that remove requirements for in-person care after a mental health visit and allow patients to receive telehealth services in their homes.
While bipartisan support for expanding many of these policies and flexibilities exists, questions remain about telehealth's cost, quality and impacts on in-person care.
The study found that telehealth is used more heavily in nonrural areas, with 8.3% of evaluation and management visits through telehealth being provided by physicians in metropolitan areas and compared with 5.3% for those in rural areas.
Female physicians were also more likely to utilize telehealth than their male counterparts. Over 9% of evaluation and management claims by women physicians were conducted via telehealth, compared with just over 6% for male physicians.