Six things to know:
1. The analysis looked at outpatient care visits during five six-month periods between March 2019 and August 2021. KFF used data from Cosmos, a HIPAA-defined limited dataset of more than 126 million patients from all 50 states.
2. Telehealth represented less than 1 percent of outpatient care before the pandemic for both mental health and substance use and other concerns.
3. At its pandemic peak (March-August 2020), telehealth represented 40 percent of mental health and substance use outpatient care visits. Telehealth represented 11 percent of other outpatient visits during that span.
4. One year later (March-August 2021) telehealth represented 36 percent of mental health and substance use outpatient care visits. Telehealth represented 5 percent of other outpatient care visits.
5. Rural residents were more likely to rely on telehealth for mental health and substance use care.
6. Mental health and substance use represent a growing share of overall outpatient visits, but the trend is much more pronounced in telehealth.
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