This is the third annual edition of FH® Healthcare Indicators and FH® Medical Price Index, two measures developed by FAIR Health to provide clarity in a rapidly changing healthcare environment. Drawing on the independent nonprofit’s national database of billions of privately insured healthcare claims—the largest in the country—these two measures apply different approaches to illuminate different aspects of the national healthcare sector, including, among other factors, trends in the place of service and billed and allowed amounts for professional services.

Lyme disease is a growing public health issue. FAIR Health analyzed recent data from its repository of over 30 billion privately billed healthcare claims to identify trends and patterns related to Lyme disease and compare such trends and patterns to those in other tick-borne diseases. Among the findings:

Telehealth has been growing rapidly in recent years as a venue of care. To shed light on how telehealth is affecting the healthcare landscape, FAIR Health analyzed recent data in our repository of over 28 billion private healthcare claim records. These are some of our findings:

• Rapid growth. From 2014 to 2018, use of non-hospital-based provider-to-patient telehealth grew 1,393 percent, from 0.007 percent to 0.104 percent of all medical claim lines. Claim lines related to any type of telehealth grew 624 percent, from 0.0192 percent to 0.1394 percent of all medical claim lines.

In the past decade, there has been widespread concern about evidence of a nationwide increase in behavioral health disorders, including both mental health and substance use disorders. At the same time, access to behavioral healthcare was increased by the passage of the Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008 (Mental Health Parity Act). To shed light on behavioral health trends and patterns in this period, FAIR Health analyzed 2007-2017 data in our database of over 28 billion private healthcare claim records.