ImportanceAfter the rapid expansion of telemedicine during the COVID-19 pandemic, there is debate about the role and reimbursement of telephone vs video visits. Missing is an understanding of what type of virtual visits clinicians may offer or patients may choose when given the option.ObjectiveTo evaluate characteristics of Medicare beneficiaries associated with practices and clinicians offering telephone visits only and patients receiving telephone visits only, when both telephone and video were available.Design, Setting, and ParticipantsThis survey study used 2019-2020 nationally representative Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey data. Participants included community-dwelling Medicare beneficiaries with a usual source of medical care who attended a practice offering telemedicine. Data were analyzed from May 3 to August 23, 2022.Main Outcomes and MeasuresMultivariable regression analysis was used to identify patient sociodemographic (age, sex, race, ethnicity, educational level, income, English proficiency, housing type, and number living at home), clinical (dementia, mental illness, self-rated health, hearing impairment, and vision impairment), and technology (technology access and prior use of video visits) factors associated with respondents’ report of (1) practices offering telephone virtual visits only, (2) being offered telephone visits only when both video and telephone visits were available, and (3) receiving telephone visits only when both video and telephone visits were offered.ResultsOf 4691 respondents (representing 27 887 642 Medicare beneficiaries; mean [SD] age, 71.3[8.1] years; 55.0% female) reporting that their practice offered telemedicine, 1234 (23.3% weighted) reported that their practices offered telephone virtual visits only; factors associated with being in a practice offering telephone only included older age (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 1.62 [95% CI, 1.10-2.39] for those aged ≥85 years vs 18-64 years), male sex (aOR, 1.36 [95% CI, 1.12-1.64]), Hispanic ethnicity (aOR, 1.41 [95% CI, 1.03-1.95]), lower income (aOR, 1.89 [95% CI, 1.43-2.49] for those with income ≤100% vs >200% of the federal poverty level), poor self-rated health (aOR, 1.25 [95% CI, 1.01-1.56]), and less technology access (aOR, 2.05 [95% CI, 1.61-2.60] for those with low vs high access). Of the 1593 patients in practices offering both video and telephone visits, 297 (16.7% weighted) were themselves offered telephone visits only; factors associated with being offered telephone only included Hispanic ethnicity (aOR, 1.96 [95% CI, 1.13-3.41]), limited English proficiency (aOR, 3.05 [95% CI, 1.28-7.31]), and less technology access (aOR, 1.68 [95% CI, 1.00-2.81] for those with low vs high access). Finally, of the 711 respondents who were themselves offered both video and telephone visits, 304 (43.1% weighted) had a telephone visit; factors associated with receiving telephone visits only were older age (aOR, 2.68 [95% CI, 1.21-5.92] for those aged 75-84 years vs 18-64 years) and less technology access (aOR, 2.65 [95% CI, 1.12-6.25] for those with moderate vs high access]). Among those who used video calls in other settings and were offered a choice, 122 (28.5%, weighted) chose telephone visits.Conclusions and RelevanceIn this survey study of Medicare beneficiaries, respondents often reported being offered or choosing telephone visits even when video visits were available. Study findings suggest that policy makers and clinical leaders should support the use of telephone visits to the extent that telephone is appropriate, while addressing both practice-level and patient-level barriers to video visits.

ImportanceLittle is known about the potential implications of the rapid transition to telehealth during the COVID-19 pandemic for treatment of opioid use disorder (OUD).ObjectiveTo examine the association between telemedicine adoption during the COVID-19 pandemic and indicators of OUD treatment quality.Design, Setting, and ParticipantsThis cohort study analyzed deidentified administrative claims data from OptumLabs Data Warehouse. Claims for telemedicine visits were included for both the prepandemic period (March 14, 2019, to March 13, 2020) and pandemic period (March 14, 2020, to March 13, 2021). Patients with OUD and continuous enrollment in either commercial insurance or Medicare Advantage plans were included. Clinicians who provided office-based OUD care were included and categorized into low, medium, or high telemedicine use groups. Patients were attributed to the clinician (and corresponding telemedicine use group) from whom they received a plurality of OUD visits.Main Outcomes and MeasuresThe 4 outcomes were all outpatient visits, OUD visits (in person vs telemedicine) within 90 days of an index visit, medications for OUD (MOUD) prescribing, and OUD-related clinical events (including drug overdose, inpatient detoxification and rehabilitation center stay, or injection drug use–related infections).ResultsThe analysis included 11 801 patients (mean [SD] age, 53.9 [15.7] years; 5902 males [50.0%]) who were treated by 1768 clinicians. Clinicians with low vs high telemedicine use conducted a mean (SD) of 2.1% (2.5%) vs 69.5% (18.6%) of their office visits virtually in the pandemic period. While telemedicine use for OUD increased significantly from the prepandemic to pandemic periods, total OUD visit volume (in person plus telemedicine) per patient episode remained stable among both high (2.6 to 2.7 visits per patient episode) and low (3.1 to 3.3 visits per patient episode) telemedicine use groups. In adjusted analyses comparing the prepandemic with pandemic periods, there was no differential change in MOUD initiation (adjusted odds ratio [OR], 1.00; 95% CI, 0.84-1.19), MOUD days’ supply (differential change in days’ supply, –0.27; 95% CI, –1.84 to 1.30), or OUD-related clinical events (adjusted OR, 1.01; 95% CI, 0.73-1.24) among patients who were treated by clinicians in low vs high telemedicine use groups.Conclusions and RelevanceResults of this study revealed that clinical outcomes were similar among patients who were treated by clinicians with high and low telemedicine use during the COVID-19 pandemic, suggesting that telemedicine is a comparable alternative to in-person OUD care. There was no evidence that telemedicine was associated with increased access to or improved quality of OUD treatment.

ImportanceUnderstanding how children’s utilization of acute mental health care changed during the COVID-19 pandemic is critical for directing resources.ObjectiveTo examine youth acute mental health care use (emergency department [ED], boarding, and subsequent inpatient care) during the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic.Design, Setting, and ParticipantsThis cross-sectional analysis of national, deidentified commercial health insurance claims of youth mental health ED and hospital care took place between March 2019 and February 2022. Among 4.1 million commercial insurance enrollees aged 5 to 17 years, 17 614 and 16 815 youth had at least 1 mental health ED visit in the baseline year (March 2019-February 2020) and pandemic year 2 (March 2021-February 2022), respectively.ExposureThe COVID-19 pandemic.Main outcomes and measuresThe relative change from baseline to pandemic year 2 was determined in (1) fraction of youth with 1 or more mental health ED visits; (2) percentage of mental health ED visits resulting in inpatient psychiatry admission; (3) mean length of inpatient psychiatric stay following ED visit; and (4) frequency of prolonged boarding (≥2 midnights) in the ED or a medical unit before admission to an inpatient psychiatric unit.ResultsOf 4.1 million enrollees, 51% were males and 41% were aged 13 to 17 years (vs 5-12 years) with 88 665 mental health ED visits. Comparing baseline to pandemic year 2, there was a 6.7% increase in youth with any mental health ED visits (95% CI, 4.7%-8.8%). Among adolescent females, there was a larger increase (22.1%; 95% CI, 19.2%-24.9%). The fraction of ED visits that resulted in a psychiatric admission increased by 8.4% (95% CI, 5.5%-11.2%). Mean length of inpatient psychiatric stay increased 3.8% (95% CI, 1.8%-5.7%). The fraction of episodes with prolonged boarding increased 76.4% (95% CI, 71.0%-81.0%).Conclusions and relevanceInto the second year of the pandemic, mental health ED visits increased notably among adolescent females, and there was an increase in prolonged boarding of youth awaiting inpatient psychiatric care. Interventions are needed to increase inpatient child psychiatry capacity and reduce strain on the acute mental health care system.