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Methods| We used 2005-2017 data from OptumLabs Data Warehouse, a deidentified claims database for privately insured and Medicare Advantage enrollees in a large, private US health plan. Database enrollees are younger and more concentrated in the South compared with the overall US population. Telemedicine visits were identified using Medicare criteria3 and grouped into 3 categories: telemental health (visits with mental health clinicians, mental health–specific Current Procedural Terminology codes, or primary mental health diagnoses), primary care telemedicine (non–telemental health visits with primary care clinicians), and other telemedicine (all remaining specialist visits).

We estimated growth in telemedicine use from 2005 to 2017 using a regression model with a linear variable for time and log-transformed telemedicine visit volume as the dependent variable. We examined trends in telemedicine use …