September 2025 Telehealth Usage Sees Regional Variations and Diagnostic Shifts

In September 2025, telehealth utilization in the U.S. showed a slight national decline, with telehealth claim lines decreasing from 5.1% in August to 5.0%. The decrease was observed in all U.S. census regions except the Northeast, where telehealth claim lines increased by 2.9%. This data covers the commercially insured population, excluding major government programs like Medicare Fee-for-Service and Medicaid. Patient proportions with telehealth claims also moved slightly lower nationally, from 14.8% to 14.7%, driven by declines in the Midwest and West. Conversely, the South and Northeast regions registered small increases. Sleep disorders reentered the national top five telehealth diagnostic categories in September, overtaking joint and soft tissue diseases, ranking fifth nationally and third in the Midwest specifically. Mental health conditions remained the predominant diagnostic category in telehealth claims, constituting approximately 62% of telehealth patient claims nationally. While nationally this proportion fell marginally from August to September, the Midwest and Northeast saw increases in patients accessing telehealth for mental health issues. Urban areas consistently exhibited higher telehealth utilization than rural areas across all regions. Nationwide, 14.9% of urban patients had telehealth claims compared to 7.4% in rural areas, with the largest urban-rural gap in the Western region. Age distribution analysis revealed that adults aged 19-30 had the highest percentage of telehealth utilization, surpassing the 31-40 age group for the first time since April 2025. Young children and seniors (65+) consistently represented the smallest segments of telehealth users. Top telehealth procedure categories remained stable, dominated by psychotherapy services and established outpatient office visits, which frequently include mental health care. The ranking of these top procedures varied regionally but remained the primary drivers of telehealth service delivery. The FAIR Health Monthly Telehealth Regional Tracker provides ongoing, data-driven insights capturing telehealth trends by region, diagnostic and procedure categories, demographic groups, and urban-rural splits. Such analytics support payers, providers, and policy makers in understanding evolving utilization dynamics in a shifting healthcare delivery landscape. FAIR Health's extensive database covering billions of commercial and Medicare claims, combined with its certification by CMS and compliance with HITRUST and SOC 2 standards, establishes it as a robust source for telehealth utilization analytics.