Increased telehealth use and reduced severe exacerbations for asthma patients during the COVID-19 pandemic

During the COVID-19 pandemic, more patients than ever before used telehealth, a shift with potential implications for patients with chronic conditions, such as asthma. To evaluate changes in healthcare utilization for asthma patients during the pandemic, we identified 581,988 individuals, 1-88 years of age, with a prior asthma diagnosis in the Optum Labs Data Warehouse (OLDW), a longitudinal database of administrative health data.