Use of Mental Telehealth Increases Dramatically Nationwide

Between 2004 and 2014, telemedicine visits for rural Medicare beneficiaries with mental health disorders increased from 2365 visits a year to 87,120 visits a year, according to a new study in the May issue of Health Affairs.

“Our results highlight the growing importance of telemedicine in the treatment of mental health disorders in rural settings where access to mental health care is often problematic,” said study lead investigator Ateev Mehrotra, MD, MPH, associate professor of health care policy at Harvard Medical School.

Despite an average 45% nationwide jump in annual telemedicine visits among rural Medicare patients with mental health issues, the study found a strikingly uneven distribution of mental telehealth services across states. In 2014, 9 states had more than 25 telemedicine visits per 100 patients with serious mental illness, while 4 states had no mental health-related telemedicine visits at all. Researchers suspect state laws regulating the provision and reimbursement of telemedicine services for mental health may be behind the uneven distribution.

On a national scale, an average 5 of every 100 rural Medicare beneficiaries with a mental health disorder had a telemedicine visit in 2014, according to the study. For patients with bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, or serious mental illness, an average 12 of every 100 patients had a telehealth visit. Patients with serious mental illness accounted for a third of mental telehealth visits overall, even though they make up just 3% of rural Medicare beneficiaries.

“This work provides us with crucial information as we move forward to understand whether the rapid rise in mental telehealth actually translates into better patient outcomes," said researcher Sherri Rose, PhD, associate professor of health care policy at Harvard Medical School.—Jolynn Tumolo