Telehealth is here to stay, but outcome data is lagging

A new survey of 416 behavioral health clinicians finds telehealth has become a core part of practice for most providers, yet many still lack rigorous data to prove it works as well as in-person care. The gap could create reimbursement and regulatory risk as payers and policymakers press for evidence of clinical equivalence.

Why it matters: - Telehealth is now embedded in behavioral health practice, but many clinicians cannot yet prove outcomes match in-person care. - That leaves practices exposed if payers, regulators or state lawmakers tie reimbursement parity to evidence. - The issue is no longer adoption. It is measurement, proof and long-term policy support.

What happened: - ICANotes surveyed 416 licensed behavioral health professionals across the United States in May 2026. - 75% of respondents said they currently deliver telehealth as part of routine practice. - 75% also said telehealth will remain a significant or core part of their practice long term. - 62% said telehealth outcomes are comparable to in-person care. - 17% said outcomes are worse. - 6% said outcomes are better. - 15% said it is too early to say.

The details: - The survey found many clinicians are using telehealth without systematic practice-level outcome tracking. - Few clinicians use validated measures to compare telehealth and in-person patient trajectories. - ICANotes Chief Clinical Officer October Boyles said clinicians have normalized telehealth without fully understanding when it works best. - Boyles said intuition is not the same as empirical data, and practices may struggle to produce outcomes evidence if reimbursement is challenged in the future. - The survey also found variation by practice model. - Clinicians delivering 100% telehealth, 18% of respondents, reported different outcome patterns than clinicians using a mix of virtual and in-person care. - Solo practitioners, 35% of respondents, reported different experiences than clinicians in group practices or community health centers, 24% of respondents. - The findings suggest telehealth performance depends heavily on implementation context.

Between the lines: - The results point to a broader tension in behavioral health: telehealth is operationally useful before it is fully evidence-standardized. - Rural and underserved communities have benefited from expanded access. - Urban practices have used telehealth for efficiency and scheduling flexibility. - Those benefits may be strong enough to sustain telehealth even while outcome questions remain unresolved. - Reimbursement parity, licensing reciprocity and federal telehealth flexibilities remain policy pressure points.

What's next: - Behavioral health practices may need clearer guidance on which outcome measures to track for telehealth versus in-person care. - Payers and regulators may need to clarify whether reimbursement parity will remain long term. - Professional associations may need to define which conditions and patient populations are best suited to virtual care. - Without those steps, telehealth is likely to remain widely used but only partly evidence-supported.

The bottom line: - Telehealth has become permanent in behavioral health, but the field still lacks the outcome data needed to defend that permanence if policy or reimbursement conditions change.