Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia.
Corresponding Author: Aziza Arifkhanova, PhD, 1600 Clifton Rd MS V24-5, Atlanta, GA 30329 (
J Clin Psychiatry. 2023 Nov 20;85(1):23m14931. doi: 10.4088/JCP.23m14931.
We sought to characterize patterns of utilization of telemental health among commercially insured individuals over the decade preceding COVID-19. We developed telemental health service groups from the US PharMetrics Plus database, using diagnostic codes to identify those diagnosed with mental health conditions and procedure codes to capture mental health visits delivered via telehealth sessions. We analyzed 2 indicators of utilization between January 1, 2010, and December 31, 2019: (1) the percentage of patients with mental health needs who used telemental health services and (2) the percentage of all mental health services provided via telehealth. We stratified our analyses by year, patient gender, patient age, and geographic region. The proportion of mental health visits delivered via telemental health increased from 0.002% to 0.162% between 2010 and 2019. A larger proportion of males received telemental health services as compared to females; however, the proportion of mental health visits delivered via telehealth was higher for females than for males. Patients aged 18 to 34 years and those in the western US had the highest utilization compared to other age groups and geographic regions. Telemental health utilization comprised a small fraction of overall mental health services and beneficiaries in the IQVIA PharMetrics Plus claims data, but increased over time, with differences documented in utilization based on patient gender, patient age, geographic region, and type of telemental health claim. Evidence from this study may serve as a pre-pandemic baseline for comparison against future evaluations of telehealth expansion policies.
我们试图描述在 COVID-19 之前的十年中商业保险个人使用远程心理健康服务的模式。我们从美国 PharMetrics Plus 数据库中开发了远程心理健康服务组，使用诊断代码来识别那些被诊断出患有心理健康状况的人，并使用程序代码来捕获通过远程医疗会议提供的心理健康访问。我们分析了 2010 年 1 月 1 日至 2019 年 12 月 31 日之间的 2 个利用指标：（1）有心理健康需求的患者使用远程心理健康服务的百分比和（2）通过远程医疗提供的所有心理健康服务的百分比。我们按年份、患者性别、患者年龄和地理位置对分析进行分层。在 2010 年至 2019 年期间，通过远程医疗提供的心理健康访问量的比例从 0.002%增加到 0.162%。与女性相比，男性接受远程心理健康服务的比例更高；然而，通过远程医疗提供的心理健康访问量的比例女性高于男性。18 至 34 岁的患者和美国西部的患者与其他年龄组和地理位置相比，利用率最高。远程心理健康服务在 IQVIA PharMetrics Plus 理赔数据中的总体心理健康服务和受益人中所占比例较小，但随着时间的推移有所增加，根据患者性别、患者年龄、地理位置和远程心理健康理赔类型记录了利用率方面的差异。这项研究的证据可以作为大流行前的基准，与未来对远程医疗扩张政策的评估进行比较。
