Cover: Changes in In-Person, Audio-Only, and Video Visits in California's Federally Qualified Health Centers, 2019-2022

Changes in In-Person, Audio-Only, and Video Visits in California's Federally Qualified Health Centers, 2019-2022

Published in: JAMA, Volume 329, No. 14, pages 1219-1221 (April 2023). doi: 10.1001/jama.2023.1307

Posted on RAND.org on April 25, 2023

by Lori Uscher-Pines, Colleen M. McCullough, Jessica L. Sousa, Sarita D. Lee, Allison J. Ober, Diana Camacho, Kandice A. Kapinos

Federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) provided outpatient primary care to approximately 30 million low-income individuals in 2021. Prior to March 2020, FQHCs rarely received reimbursement for telehealth services delivered into patients' homes. However, pandemic-related regulatory waivers allowed many payers to reimburse FQHCs the same rate for in-person, audio-only, and video visits. Most visits delivered by California FQHCs in 2020 were audio only. Little is known about the evolution of audio-only visits as FQHCs gained experience with video visits. We describe visit trends among California FQHCs from 2019 to 2022.

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