Telehealth utilization rose 10.1% in the first quarter of 2026, with mental health conditions remaining the top telehealth diagnosis across every age group and region.
FAIR Health on June 15 released first-quarter telehealth data and launched a new Quarterly Telehealth Regional Tracker, replacing its previous monthly tracker. The interactive tool allows users to examine telehealth trends nationally and across the Northeast, Midwest, South and West among commercially insured patients.
The Quarterly Telehealth Regional Tracker includes data from the commercially insured population and excludes Medicare Fee-for-Service, Medicare Advantage and Medicaid claims.
Here are five things to know about telehealth utilization, according to FAIR Health’s tracker:
- Telehealth utilization, measured as a percentage of medical claim lines, increased 10.1% nationally from the fourth quarter of 2025 to the first quarter of 2026, rising from 5.01% to 5.51%.
- Mental health conditions accounted for 52.1% of patients with a telehealth claim nationally, making them the leading diagnostic category overall and across all regions and age groups. However, the share was lower among children ages 0-9 (26.9%) and adults 65 and older (22%).
- Telehealth use also expanded among patients, with the percentage of individuals who had a telehealth claim increasing from 17.3% in the fourth quarter of 2025 to 18.4% in the first quarter of 2026.
- Psychotherapy services and procedures ranked as the second most common telehealth procedure category nationwide and in every U.S. region. Established patient office and other outpatient services ranked first.
- Telehealth utilization remained higher in urban areas than rural areas, though growth was faster in rural communities. Nationally, 10.3% of rural patients had a telehealth claim compared with 18.6% of urban patients. However, rural utilization grew 7.8% quarter over quarter, compared with 6.2% in urban areas.
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