FAIR Health Awarded Grant from Connecticut Health Foundation to Research Telehealth Utilization Patterns and Outcomes in Connecticut
February 16, 2023
The Connecticut Health Foundation (CT Health) recently awarded a President’s Discretionary Grant to the national, independent nonprofit FAIR Health in support of a research study that will examine how the outcomes and efficiency of telehealth compare to those of in-person care and how these outcomes vary for people of color in Connecticut. The project is entitled A Claims Analysis to Examine How Telehealth Can Reduce Barriers to Care.
President’s Discretionary Grants fund projects that support CT Health’s overall mission of achieving health equity. It is anticipated that the study findings, which will be published in a report in the latter half of 2023, will provide actionable insights for a wide range of stakeholders in Connecticut and across the nation seeking to improve care for communities of color.
The new study will analyze Connecticut claims data from FAIR Health’s National Private Insurance Claims (FH NPIC®) database—the largest repository of private healthcare claims in the country, with over 40 billion medical and dental claim records dating from 2002 to the present. The CT Health-funded study will offer a unique view of the telehealth landscape in Connecticut. The study is especially important given the extension of Connecticut’s Executive Order 7G, which extended the ability of out-of-state healthcare providers to provide telehealth services without having Connecticut state medical licensure, thereby allowing patients to virtually reach providers they would not have access to otherwise. In undertaking the project, FAIR Health will seek to inform stakeholders with actionable, data-driven and timely insights pertaining to utilization and outcomes associated with telehealth in Connecticut; such insights can be useful to informing policies and protocols that address disparities in care at the micro and macro levels.
The grant-funded work aligns with CT Health’s mission of achieving health equity and will build on FAIR Health’s nationally recognized research on telehealth. In 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic forced dramatic changes to in-person care delivery, FAIR Health launched its widely cited Monthly Telehealth Regional Tracker. The Telehealth Tracker compares by month and region the volume of telehealth claim lines, the top five telehealth diagnoses and the top five telehealth procedure codes, among other variables; a fourth annual iteration of the Telehealth Tracker will begin in April. FAIR Health’s telehealth studies, which have received attention by government, industry and media outlets alike, have included A Multilayered Analysis of Telehealth: How This Emerging Venue of Care Is Affecting the Healthcare Landscape and The Evolution of Telehealth during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Multiyear Retrospective of FAIR Health’s Monthly Telehealth Regional Tracker.
FAIR Health President Robin Gelburd stated: “We are delighted to join with the Connecticut Health Foundation to undertake this important endeavor that builds on FAIR Health’s nationally recognized work regarding telehealth. Offering illuminating insights into how this modality is changing the healthcare landscape can help equip stakeholders with the information they need to serve patients, particularly those from diverse communities.”
Ellen Carter, Vice President of Program at CT Health, said: “CT Health is eager to see the results of FAIR Health’s study. Telehealth has the potential to reduce barriers to access to care, which is a step in the right direction to an equitable health care system, but it’s also important to make sure that there aren’t unintended consequences or changes that make the system less equitable.”