Telehealth use among Anthem's Medicare Advantage members grew exponentially during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new report the insurer published Nov. 17.
Nationally, the CDC said telehealth visits grew by 154 percent during the last week of March 2020 when compared to the same period in 2019.
Anthem's data provides a look at what that growth looks like within one insurance company. In March through May 2020, Anthem's Medicare members received about 600,000 services virtually. That's 136 times greater than the 4,400 virtual services provided to Medicare members a year before.
Mental health conditions and substance use disorders were the largest group of diagnoses treated virtually, according to Anthem. Cardiovascular diagnoses were also common.