Healthcare Insights

Hospital telehealth adoption by state

Telehealth, also referred to as telemedicine, is the delivery of healthcare via remote clinical services such as phone calls, video chats, emails and text messages. While the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the adoption of telehealth technology, patients and providers are also realizing the potential benefits of care delivery across multiple locations.  

How many hospitals use telehealth technologies? 

According to hospital technology implementation data from the Definitive Healthcare HospitalView product, 65.5% of hospitals have installed a telemedicine solution. Analyzing the nearly 5,000 U.S. hospitals with a reported telehealth technology installation, we broke down hospital adoption levels by state and compared them to 2019 data. 

Hospital telehealth adoption by state

Rank State Total hospitals Number of hospitals with telehealth 2021 % of state hospitals with telehealth 2021 Number of hospitals with telehealth 2019 % of state hospitals with telehealth 2019 Explore dataset
Wisconsin 183 146 79.8% 95 55.6% Explore
Iowa 138 108 78.3% 86 64.2% Explore
Utah 69 54 78.3% 48 68.6% Explore
South Dakota 73 56 76.7% 46 63.9% Explore
Virginia 150 115 76.7% 90 62.5% Explore
Oregon 74 56 75.7% 43 58.9% Explore
North Carolina 193 145 75.1% 99 52.9% Explore
Michigan 202 150 74.3% 89 44.9% Explore
Delaware 19 14 73.7% 22.2% Explore
10 Minnesota 162 118 72.8% 95 59.0% Explore
11 West Virginia 77 55 71.4% 27 36.5% Explore
12 Nebraska 111 79 71.2% 33 30.0% Explore
13 Illinois 253 177 70.0% 67 26.8% Explore
14 Rhode Island 19 13 68.4% 33.3% Explore
15 North Dakota 60 41 68.3% 28 45.9% Explore
16 Pennsylvania 329 223 67.8% 118 37.3% Explore
17 Montana 68 46 67.6% 27 40.3% Explore
18 Ohio 322 214 66.5% 143 45.7% Explore
19 New Hampshire 35 23 65.7% 11 30.6% Explore
20 South Carolina 111 72 64.9% 58 54.2% Explore
21 Kentucky 139 90 64.7% 67 48.6% Explore
22 Missouri 190 122 64.2% 101 54.3% Explore
23 Massachusetts 159 102 64.2% 49 32.2% Explore
24 Idaho 64 41 64.1% 25 39.7% Explore
25 Maryland 83 53 63.9% 33 41.3% Explore
26 New Jersey 141 90 63.8% 55 40.4% Explore
27 Indiana 229 146 63.8% 100 44.1% Explore
28 Tennessee 199 126 63.3% 72 37.5% Explore
29 Washington 130 82 63.1% 59 45.7% Explore
30 New York 309 193 62.5% 102 34.0% Explore
31 Maine 45 28 62.2% 14 31.1% Explore
32 Vermont 18 11 61.1% 5.9% Explore
33 Connecticut 59 36 61.0% 13 23.6% Explore
34 Florida 370 225 60.8% 197 56.6% Explore
35 Arizona 166 100 60.2% 59 39.6% Explore
36 California 553 314 56.8% 244 44.5% Explore
37 District of Columbia 16 56.3% 40.0% Explore
38 Wyoming 35 19 54.3% 10 28.6% Explore
39 Oklahoma 192 104 54.2% 66 34.9% Explore
40 New Mexico 67 36 53.7% 31 49.2% Explore
42 Alaska 30 16 53.3% 20.0% Explore
41 Mississippi 135 72 53.3% 55 42.0% Explore
43 Arkansas 130 68 52.3% 51 41.1% Explore
44 Georgia 212 107 50.5% 98 46.7% Explore
45 Alabama 148 72 48.6% 53 36.6% Explore
46 Texas 913 440 48.2% 336 38.9% Explore
47 Colorado 133 64 48.1% 47 37.0% Explore
48 Nevada 79 38 48.1% 23 29.9% Explore
49 Kansas 183 80 43.7% 52 29.2% Explore
50 Louisiana 312 128 41.0% 81 27.9% Explore
51 Hawaii 32 13 40.6% 15.6% Explore

Fig. 1: Telehealth technology implementations sourced from Definitive Healthcare’s HospitalView product. Data is proprietary and updated on a continuous basis. Data accurate as of December 2021. 

Which states have the highest telehealth usage? 

Over 78 percent of hospitals in Wisconsin, Iowa and Utah report telehealth technology in place. The states of South Dakota, Virginia, Oregon and North Carolina each have over three-quarters of their hospitals utilizing telehealth. Based on 2019 data, the four states with the highest reported implementation rates were Utah, Iowa, South Dakota and Virginia. 

Which states have the lowest telehealth usage? 

Just over 40 percent of hospitals in Hawaii report use of telehealth technologies. However, the number of hospitals has more than doubled since 2019, when only 15.6 percent of hospitals in Hawaii used telehealth software. Less than 44 percent of hospitals in Kansas and Louisiana report a telehealth installation. Kansas, Louisiana, Hawaii and Nevada were in the bottom 10 for state telehealth adoption in 2019.  

Which states had the biggest growth in telehealth usage? 

Vermont and Delaware hospitals each had over 50 percentage point increases in telehealth adoption, accounting for 10 additional facilities in each state. Over 104 additional hospitals in Texas, Pennsylvania and Illinois reported a telehealth installation between 2019 and 2021.  

Healthcare Insights are developed with data from the Definitive Healthcare platform. Want even more insights? Start a free trial now and get access to the highest quality healthcare commercial intelligence on hospitals, physicians and other healthcare providers. 

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