Figure :

Trends in Total Telemedicine Visits by Specialty, 2005–2017

Abbreviations: primary care physician (PCP)Top row: Rate of telemedicine visits per 1,000 members per quarter (right panel) are shown. Telemedicine use is stratified by primary care telemedicine (green), telemental health (orange), and other specialties (purple, 10% of total volume).

Middle row: Unadjusted trends in the rate of telemedicine visits per 1,000 members per quarter are shown, stratified by county-level characteristics in physician supply. In the left panel, rates of primary care telemedicine are stratified by quartiles of county-level supply of primary care physicians (PCPs) per capita, with varying percentages of total enrollees in each (10% of enrollees in Q1 [low], 39% in Q2, 33% in Q3 and 18% in Q4 [high]). In the right panel, rates of telemedicine mental health care (telemental health) are stratified according to whether a county had no psychiatrists (7% of enrollees), low supply (below average among counties with any supply, ≤6.2 psychiatrists per 100,000; 25% of enrollees), or high supply (above average among counties with any supply, >6.2 psychiatrists per 100,000; 67% of enrollees).

Bottom row: Unadjusted trends in the rate of telemedicine visits per 1,000 members per quarter are shown, stratified by state-level telemedicine parity and coverage laws. We defined three levels of parity/coverage laws, no mandate for coverage or parity (red; 68% of enrollees), any mandate for insurer coverage of telemedicine (green; 26% of enrollees) and full mandate of coverage and reimbursement parity (blue; 6% of enrollees). In the left panel, rates of primary care telemedicine and shown and in the right panel, rates of telemedicine mental health care (telemental health) are shown.