Health Care Utilization Rebounded in 2022, Yet Remained Below Pre-Pandemic Levels

February 10

As of mid-to-late 2022, health care utilization had bounced back to levels on par with those seen at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet the utilization of some non-COVID health care services remained below expectations based on pre-pandemic trends, according to a recent Peter-KFF Health System Tracker analysis. The number of hospital discharges in the third quarter of 2022 was 9.1 million, or 700,000 discharges below the pre-COVID quarterly average in 2018-2019.

The share of adults who visited a doctor in the last 12 months (83.1%) recovered in 2022 after dipping in 2020-2021, but did not reach the percentage seen in early 2019 (85.3%). Similarly, emergency care utilization saw a rebound last year, yet remained below prepandemic levels. The number of physician encounters per person, however, did rebound to 2019 levels as of the third quarter of 2022.

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Health Plan Weekly

Jinghong Chen Reporter

Jinghong has been producing infographics and data stories on employer-sponsored insurance, public health insurance programs and prescription drug coverage for AIS Health’s Health Plan Weekly and Radar on Drug Benefits since 2018. She also manages AIS Health’s annual executive compensation database for top insurers and Blue Cross and Blue Shield affiliates. Before joining AIS Health, she interned at WBEZ, Al Jazeera English and The New York Times Chinese. She graduated from Missouri School of Journalism with a focus on data journalism and international reporting.