FAIR Health Consumer Access

Telehealth Trends from January to March 2025

FAIR Health’s Monthly Telehealth Regional Tracker presents month-to-month variations in telehealth trends nationally and in the four US census regions. The trends in the first three months of 2025 are summarized below.

Telehealth Utilization
When measured using the percentage of patients with a telehealth claim, telehealth utilization decreased almost everywhere from January to March 2025. Nationally, the percentage of patients with a telehealth claim decreased from 14.9 percent of patients in January to 14.5 percent in February, a 2.8 percent drop. During the same period, the decrease was 2.6 percent in the South, 3.2 percent in the Midwest, 3.7 percent in the Northeast and 4.3 percent in the West. And in March 2025, the percentage of patients with a telehealth claim continued to decrease nationally (1.2 percent) and in every region except the West, where it increased 1.8 percent. The decreases in the other three regions were 0.8 percent in the Northeast, 1.3 percent in the South and 2.4 percent in the Midwest.

When measured using telehealth claim lines, rather than the percentage of patients with a telehealth claim, patterns of telehealth utilization were variable across months and regions from January to March 2025. As a percentage of all medical claim lines, telehealth claim lines increased 0.05 percent nationally, from 5.119 percent in January to 5.122 percent in February. During the same period, telehealth claim lines increased 3.8 percent in the South, but decreased 6.2 percent in the Northeast, 3.1 percent in the West and 0.8 percent in the Midwest. Somewhat conversely, in March, telehealth claim lines decreased 3.1 percent nationally and 5.2 percent in both the South and Midwest, but increased 2.5 percent in the Northeast and 0.7 percent in the West.

Top Five Diagnostic Categories
From January to March 2025, mental health conditions remained the top telehealth diagnostic category, nationally and in every US census region. Nationally, 58.5 percent of patients with a telehealth claim in January had a diagnosis of mental health conditions. In February, that percentage increased to 62.3 percent and in March, it decreased to 61.6 percent.

In February, overweight and obesity entered the top five national telehealth diagnostic categories in fourth position. But in March, this diagnostic category fell out of the national top five. Overweight and obesity remained in the top five in the Midwest and Northeast in January, February and March, and it featured in the top five in the West in February but did not rank in the South in any month.

Sleep disorders were also commonly ranked among the top five from January to March 2025. This diagnostic category featured in all three months in the Midwest (in fourth position in January and February and third in March); in the West, it ranked in fifth position in January and March; and at the national level, it entered the rankings in fifth position in March.

Top Five Procedure Categories
From January to March 2025, established patient office or other outpatient services, and psychotherapy services and procedures, were the top two telehealth procedure categories nationally and in every region. The order of the two varied by region but remained consistent from January to March. In each month, nationally and in the South and West, established patient office or other outpatient services ranked first, while in the Midwest and Northeast, psychotherapy services and procedures ranked first. At the national level, 50.6 percent of patients with a telehealth claim in January had at least one claim for established patient office or other outpatient services. That dropped to 48.1 percent in February, then rose to 48.9 percent in March. Psychotherapy services and procedures, in second position nationally, accounted for 44.2 percent of patients in January, 47.1 percent in February and 46.1 percent in March.

Age Distribution
In January, February and March 2025, the age groups 19-30 and 31-40 accounted for the largest percentages of patients with a telehealth claim nationally and in every region. During the first three months of 2025, at the national level, the percentages varied from 23.3 to 23.9 percent in the age group 19-30 and from 22.6 to 23.2 percent in the age group 31-40. In all three months, nationally and in every region, the age groups 0-9 and 65 and older accounted for the smallest shares of patients with a telehealth claim; their share was less than 10 percent in all areas in February and March, and less than 10 percent everywhere except the West in January, where 10.1 percent of patients in the age group 65 and older had a telehealth claim.

Urban versus Rural Use
From January to March 2025, telehealth utilization remained higher in urban than rural areas nationally and in all four regions. Nationally, the percentage of patients in urban and rural areas using telehealth decreased during the first three months of 2025. In urban areas, that percentage dropped from 15.0 percent in January to 14.6 in February and to 14.5 percent in March, and in rural areas, it dropped from 8.0 percent in January to 7.9 percent in February and to 7.2 percent in March. Regionally, the percentage of patients with a telehealth claim in both rural and urban areas decreased everywhere except the urban areas in the West, where it increased from February to March 2025.

View the Monthly Telehealth Regional Tracker here.