The percentage of physicians using telehealth in 2024 remained at levels that were nearly triple the rate they were before the onset of the 2020 COVID-19 public health emergency when physicians and patients flocked to the virtual modality, a new AMA report shows.
In 2024, 71.4% of physicians reported using telehealth in their practices weekly, up from the 25.1% who reported that in 2018 and just below the 79% reported in 2020.
But some physicians are far likelier than others to use videoconferencing for patient visits on a weekly basis, according to the AMA Policy Research Perspectives report, “Patient-Facing Telehealth: Use Is Higher Than Pre-Pandemic But With Great Variation Across Physician Specialties” (PDF).
Psychiatrists were the most likely to have provided a video visit in the prior week, with 85.9% reporting having used it. They also were the specialists to rely on videoconferencing most heavily, with 56.9% reporting using it for more than 20% of weekly visits. Meanwhile, 68.2% of psychiatrists used videoconferencing or audio-only forms of telehealth for more than 20% of weekly visits.
Of all the physicians survey, 15.7% reported using telehealth (video or audio-only) for more than 20% of their weekly visits.
Here are top five other physician specialties using telehealth the most, ranked by the share with more than 20% of visits being delivered via telehealth (video or audio-only):
- Neurology—32.2%.
- Endocrinology—24.2%.
- Gastroenterology—20.4%
- Family and general medicine—20.1%
- Urology—18.7%.
Here are the five physician specialties using telehealth the least, ranked by the share with more than 20% of visits being delivered via telehealth (video or audio-only):
- Ophthalmology—1.8%.
- Dermatology—3.7%.
- Emergency medicine—4.3%.
- Orthopaedic surgery—4.7%.
- Anesthesiology—6.2%.
The AMA Policy Research Perspectives report comes at a time when there is relatively little published research examining how frequently patients and physicians use telehealth and how use differs across specialties. Data for the AMA Policy Research Perspectives report comes from the AMA’s nationally representative Physician Practice Benchmark Survey and Medicare claims data, which the AMA has conducted on a biennial basis since 2012.
From AI implementation to digital health adoption and EHR usability, the AMA is fighting to make technology work for physicians, ensuring that it is an asset to doctors. That includes recently launching the AMA Center for Digital Health and AI to give physicians a powerful voice in shaping how AI and other digital tools are harnessed to improve the patient and clinician experience.
Medicare data corroborates survey
Based on the 5% Medicare claims data for each quarter in 2024, the report found similar telehealth use patterns among physicians. Unlike the Physician Practice Benchmark Survey data, Medicare claims can be limited to only services that are eligible to be billed as telehealth, allowing researchers to compare telehealth use across specialties where it can be billed as such.
In 2024, 3.7% of telehealth eligible spending for services provided by physicians was billed as telehealth. The data showed that—similar to the benchmark survey—psychiatrists, at 31.2%, had the highest share of telehealth eligible spending that was billed as telehealth services. Among other specialists, those among the top were endocrinologists with a share at 8.5%, neurologists at 7.3% and gastroenterologists at 6.6%.
The new report—written by Carol K. Kane, PhD, who directs economic and health policy research at the AMA—also details trends in use of telehealth by practice ownership and why some physicians opt against using telehealth to provide care.
Making telehealth pay permanent
Payment and regulatory flexibilities that protect Medicare patients’ access to telehealth services introduced in 2020 as the COVID-19 public health emergency disrupted in-person visits expired on Sept. 30, but they were temporarily extended to Jan. 30 through when Congress took action to end the government shutdown in November.
The AMA supports bipartisan, bicameral legislation—The Creating Opportunities Now for Necessary and Effective Care Technologies (CONNECT) for Health Act of 2025—that would permanently remove geographical restrictions for telehealth services, allow Medicare patients to have telehealth visits wherever their audio or video connections are available and repeal a requirement from the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 that says Medicare patients must have an in-person visit with a physician within six months of an initial telemental health visit.
Visit AMA Advocacy in Action to find out what’s at stake in supporting telehealth and other advocacy priorities the AMA is actively working on.
