WASHINGTON, DC – Geoffrey Boyce, Executive Director of InSight Telepsychiatry, spoke at the National Governors Association (NGA) Rural Health Learning Collaborative meeting on August 9 in Washington, D.C.
A renowned national thought leader in the telemedicine industry, Boyce was invited to speak of a range of topics about InSight and telepsychiatry, which included:
“I was honored to accept the invitation to speak to this group about the telepsychiatry industry,” says Boyce. “InSight prides itself on sharing industry level best practices and education for this growing field.”
InSight’s Telepsychiatry
The meeting took place at the Hall of the States on August 9 – 10. The NGA Center brought together leaders from five states: Michigan, North Carolina, North Dakota, New York and Nevada during a one-and-a-half-day meeting focused on strategies states may consider to meet behavioral health care needs in rural areas. State participants and attendees broke into teams and took part in sessions, where they met with speakers and NGA facilitators to ask questions and work on action plans. The teams presented their action plans and key takeaways at the end of the meeting.
Boyce spoke during a session called, “Using Telehealth and Telemedicine to Meet Behavioral Health Care Needs.” The session highlighted strategies to build and sustain successful telehealth models and addressed topics such as Medicaid reimbursement, the scope of practice policies and best practices and misconceptions about telehealth.
Other speakers during Boyce’s session included Latoya Thomas, Director of State and Policy Resources at the American Telemedicine Association and Brian Cooper, Telepsychiatry and Rural Health Specialist for the North Carolina Office of Rural Health, Department of Health and Human Services.
About InSight + Regroup
InSight + Regroup (now Array Behavioral Care) is the leading and largest telepsychiatry service provider in the US with a mission to transform access to quality behavioral health care. InSight + Regroup serves hundreds of organizations and individuals in various settings across the continuum of care with its on-demand, scheduled services and direct-to-consumer (Inpathy) divisions. Given its size, diversity of services and extensive experience and expertise, InSight + Regroup is uniquely positioned to enable scalable telepsychiatry programs across the care continuum. As an industry thought leader, InSight + Regroup has helped shape the field, define the standard of care and advocate for improved telepsychiatry-friendly regulations. To learn more, visit www.arraybc.com.
About the National Governors Association
The National Governors Association (NGA) is the bipartisan organization of the nation’s governors. Through NGA, governors share best practices, speak with a collective voice on national policy and develop innovative solutions that improve state government and support the principles of federalism.
By: Scott Baker, MBA, InSight Business Innovations Manager
The link between behavioral health and medical outcomes is well understood. Providing behavioral health services can help keep some medical conditions in check and prevent hospitalizations and readmissions. However, more than half of US counties are currently without any psychiatrists, resulting in large care gaps and wait times of up to 3 to 6 months. As a result, many patients seek mental health services from primary care providers, who often lack both time and specialized psychiatric expertise to treat such conditions. A more dire situation arises when patients are discouraged from seeking treatment altogether, which can lead to further deterioration or crisis situations.
Amid this provider shortage and growing behavioral health crisis, telepsychiatry is emerging as an effective tool to meet providers’ referral needs. In addition, direct-to-consumer (D2C) telepsychiatry is becoming a more widely utilized treatment option—one that can fill gaps in care at a time when the need for services far outpaces provider supply and address issues before they escalate.
By enabling provider-patient interaction at any time from any location, D2C telehealth helps increase access to care and promotes a more comprehensive response to patient needs, whether physical or behavioral. Making care more convenient often leads to earlier interventions that help ensure patient needs are addressed before issues escalate and require higher-cost interventions.
D2C telepsychiatry: A natural fit for telehealth
The American Telemedicine Association defines telehealth as “the remote delivery of healthcare services and clinical information using telecommunications technology.” The more popular forms of telehealth rely on real-time videoconferencing to deliver services and address patients’ needs, emulating the kind of in-person exchange and connectivity experienced in a provider’s office setting. Continued growth of D2C telehealth underscores the attractiveness of the videoconferencing model, as patients—increasingly empowered in their own care choices—seek direct access to providers and alternative options to more conveniently manage their care.
When it comes to telehealth for behavioral health, telepsychiatry is now used for evaluation, consultation, and treatment throughout the care continuum, and it can be found in settings that range from acute inpatient settings and emergency departments (EDs) to community-based care environments and in-home referrals from primary care doctors and discharge planners.
D2C telepsychiatry takes the burden off primary care providers and expands referral options in areas lacking adequate psychiatric services. With additional providers available, patients are empowered with greater choice, rather than limited by what is within a drivable radius. Beyond primary care providers, community-based professionals such as referral coordinators, benefit managers, and discharge planners can leverage this option to help consumers access qualified behavioral health specialists in a timely manner.
Collaborative care between telepsychiatry providers and patients’ primary care and regular providers can also extend the value proposition of D2C telepsychiatry by improving coordination, increasing clinical exchanges and connecting a patient’s community of caretakers for more holistic care.
The advantages of D2C
D2C telepsychiatry delivers inherent advantages for both patients and providers, including:
Flexibility. Consumers can schedule appointments outside of traditional weekday time slots, including nights and weekends, and can often find available appointments within a few days of their request.
Convenience. Services can be accessed from any private location leading to better continuity of care. For example, consumers can continue treatment with the same psychiatric provider during life transitions, such as moving to a new city for college.
Privacy. Like in-person care, telepsychiatry protects the privacy of patients. In fact, confidentiality may be heightened since appointments are accessed from home, eliminating the potential that patients will see someone they know in a waiting room—a concern that keeps many from seeking out treatment.
High-quality care. Telepsychiatry meets the standard of traditional in-person care for diagnostic accuracy, treatment effectiveness, quality of care, and patient satisfaction. Along with all major national healthcare associations, the American Psychiatric Association supports the use of this model.
Implementing telepsychiatry
Healthcare organizations interested in utilizing D2C telehealth and telepsychiatry should, of course, consider situational nuances prior to determining the best course of treatment. Conditions such as anxiety, depression, stress, life transitions, childhood mood disorders, and ADHD align well with D2C telepsychiatry. However, it is not appropriate for patients who display suicidal, homicidal, delusional or paranoid symptoms.
In addition, providers should keep in mind that while most people have access to reliable internet connections and smart devices that can support telepsychiatry, not everyone has this luxury. Prior to making referrals, providers should assess a patient’s ability to follow through with the telepsychiatry option.
The potential of D2C telepsychiatry
D2C telehealth models, and specifically telepsychiatry, represent a disruptive care delivery movement that is laying the groundwork for a more connected community and collaborative care continuum. By improving access, these forward-thinking models of care promote early intervention, addressing issues before they escalate and require higher-cost interventions. Ultimately, it’s an optimal framework for improving outcomes and empowering consumers in their care.
Original article posted in Oliver Wyman Health.
HERSHEY, PA – Franklin Family Services, a network of outpatient behavioral health clinics in Pennsylvania, launched a telepsychiatry program this week to increase access to psychiatric care in several of their locations (Carlisle and Camp Hill).
Telepsychiatry is the delivery of psychiatry through real time videoconferencing. It is proven to be an effective form of care delivery and a great way to expand the psychiatric support at a clinic without having to staff an in-person psychiatrist.
This is a great solution in Pennsylvania and in many other states across the nation where there is a shortage of psychiatrists. Telepsychiatry allows one provider to easily serve multiple sites without having to spend time commuting between various locations.
About Outpatient Telepsychiatry Program
The telepsychiatry program is launched in partnership with InSight, a national telepsychiatry service provider organization. Telepsychiatry services provided include all the same services someone would receive in-person through their telepsychiatry provider, Dr. David Kaicher.
Dr. Kaicher is a Pennsylvania licensed, board certified adult psychiatrist. Dr. Kaicher has published research in The Journal of ECT and Urology, and completed his residency at Mt. Sinai Hospital and Saint Vincent’s Catholic Medical Center, his doctorate at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School and his Master of Arts in Psychology at New York University.
With this program, Franklin Family Services aims to treat the behavioral health needs of adults, adolescents and families so that they can achieve their potential through a balanced, healthy lifestyle. Telepsychiatry allows for unprecedented access to specialists, so that Franklin Family Services can better serve its community across its three locations.
“We’re happy to be able to leverage telepsychiatry to serve several of Franklin Family Services’ different communities. By sharing a psychiatric provider across multiple clinics everyone gets the psychiatric care they need in the most efficient way,” said InSight’s Operations Director Dena Ferrell.
“We are thrilled to be able to offer this exciting new service to our clients. We are dedicated to increasing psychiatric access to all consumers and this is a smart way to meet the community need,” said Dana M. Matheson, MA, LPC, Clinical Director, Franklin Family Services.
It is estimated that 1,051,490 individuals in Pennsylvania are living with serious psychological distress including major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, panic disorder or anxiety.[1] The telepsychiatry program will allow Franklin Family Services to increase their ability to treat those that need care the most.
About InSight + Regroup
InSight + Regroup (now Array Behavioral Care) is the leading and largest telepsychiatry service provider in the US with a mission to transform access to quality behavioral health care. InSight + Regroup serves hundreds of organizations and individuals in various settings across the continuum of care with its on-demand, scheduled services and direct-to-consumer (Inpathy) divisions. Given its size, diversity of services and extensive experience and expertise, InSight + Regroup is uniquely positioned to enable scalable telepsychiatry programs across the care continuum. As an industry thought leader, InSight + Regroup has helped shape the field, define the standard of care and advocate for improved telepsychiatry-friendly regulations. To learn more, visit www.arraybc.com.
About Franklin Family Services
Franklin Family Services (FFS) is a private, social-service agency for youth and families. Founded in May 2003, we operate outpatient clinics from Greencastle to Hershey, PA, providing intensive home- and community-based interventions for children, adolescents, adults, and families in the child welfare, juvenile justice and mental health systems.
[1] National Institutes of Mental Health, National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) 2015, and NSDUH-MHSS 2008-2012.
By: Joel Friedman, PhD
For more than 25, years I have had the opportunity to provide outpatient behavioral healthcare services. During that time, I have observed the tremendous benefits thousands of individuals receive through access to care. My colleagues and I have the privilege of being a part of the process in which individuals make changes that significantly improve their quality of life. In some cases, these changes have literally been life-saving. We are becoming increasingly aware of how prevalent mental health disorders are in our communities, and through that awareness, we have come to realize that for each individual who is able to access effective behavioral healthcare, there are many others who are unable to do so.
Access to behavioral healthcare has been a challenge for decades. Dating back to the Community Mental Health Act of 1963, the vision people have had for access to behavioral healthcare has not been matched by the availability of services. The good intention of the community mental health center movement to “deinstitutionalize” individuals led to an increase in the need for treatment in the community. Unfortunately, the community resources were not nearly enough to keep pace with the growing need for treatment.
Improving Resources to Health Care via Telebehavioral Health
In addition to the insufficient number of available licensed behavioral healthcare providers and the limitations on insurance coverage for behavioral healthcare, there are many other factors that can influence accessibility of effective clinical services. People who utilize behavioral healthcare services frequently require sessions with their providers several times each month. The effective provision of treatment models such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) often involves dynamic interactions between the clinician and the patient on a regular basis. The application of CBT includes homework assignments that need to be reviewed and analyzed to ensure that progress is being made. Additionally, many psychotropic medications need to be closely monitored for side effects as well as their effectiveness in treating presenting symptoms, especially at the onset of treatment.
For some individuals, transportation to an office or facility in which behavioral healthcare is provided is not consistently available. Thus, they may not engage in treatment at all or receive insufficient treatment if they are required to travel to the clinician’s office. Other individuals may have access to reliable transportation but have young children and do not have childcare arrangements that will allow them to attend appointments at the clinician’s office.
Mental health disorders can affect individuals in a variety of ways. Some individuals suffer from intense symptoms of anxiety or panic. For those individuals, leaving their home on a regular basis is often not possible. Other individuals may suffer from paranoid ideation to the point that sitting in a waiting room among other patients while awaiting an appointment may be more than they can tolerate. Some individuals suffer from profound symptoms of depression and may not have the energy or motivation to leave their homes and travel, even for treatment of their symptoms.
While progress has been made in reducing the stigma associated with mental health disorders, a great deal of bias still exists. Many people elect not to pursue behavioral healthcare due to concerns about how they may be perceived by others if it becomes known they have received such services. In some cases, privacy may be crucial. For example, a teacher may not be uncomfortable sitting in a waiting room with one of their students while awaiting an appointment with an optometrist. However, that same teacher may feel very uncomfortable sitting in the waiting room of a psychiatrist or therapist and have a student walk in. Privacy in behavioral healthcare belongs to the patient—if he or she wishes to maintain it, our field is required to protect it as much as possible.
The benefits of behavioral healthcare via telebehavioral health
Over the past several years, I have observed the benefits that are associated with the provision of behavioral healthcare via telebehavioral health. Improved access to care is among the most significant of those benefits. Transportation issues that often prohibit individuals from receiving care at an office can be eliminated. Individuals with young children can often negotiate their childcare needs much more easily if their appointments do not involve travel to and from an office and dealing with a crowded waiting room. At some points during treatment the condition for which an individual is seeking treatment may be the reason why they do not access services. Symptoms of anxiety and/or panic, paranoid thoughts, or depression may be debilitating at times. If care is brought to the individual in their home, they may be able to progress to the point that they will then have the option of services provided at an office as well as in-home treatment. If in-home services are not available when the person is at a particularly difficult point in their ability to function, the risk of an undesired outcome is much greater.
We are continuing to make strides in our understanding of mental health disorders and in our ability to effectively treat those conditions. Expanding access to care for individuals who need behavioral healthcare treatment is not only an option we should pursue, it is an obligation if we are to reach those who may be in the most need of care.
Original article posted in Health Management Technology.
Mental Health Weekly
By: Gary Enos
As administrators of a general hospital with no specialized psychiatric unit, leaders at Chester County Hospital in eastern Pennsylvania had become accustomed to a waiting game for psychiatric consultation when a patient with clear mental health needs presented in their emergency department. As is the case at a growing number of general hospitals around the country, telepsychiatry is providing these leaders with an alternative to what can become a crisis in emergency operations — as well as for patients in need.
In partnership with national telepsychiatry company InSight Telepsychiatry, LLC, Chester County Hospital is now using video technology to enable it to receive expert consultation on cases, usually within an hour of making initial contact.
This reduces wait times for services and creates more effective referral to specialty mental health treatment services in the community, while in other cases it simply might offer a more rapid and expert confirmation that a patient with mental health needs can be safely discharged.
“In the emergency department, the availability of specialty services is always difficult,” Betty Brennan, Chester County Hospital’s director of emergency services, told MHW.
“We were finding that the availability of psychiatrists was increasingly more difficult, because of their professional load in their offices. The immediacy that we needed just wasn’t there.”
The hospital’s phone calls to other facilities to see how they were handling the issue of delays in mental health patient transfer or discharge led the organization to InSight in 2011.
Brennan said the high quality of communication between patient and remote provider via video gives her confidence that the sessions between patient and psychiatrist virtually duplicate the more common face-to-face experience. “You almost forget in today’s world that you’re talking on videoconference,” Brennan said of the telepsychiatry experience.
The hospital launched its work with telepsychiatry for evening and overnight hours but has since expanded the program in order to maintain round-the-clock coverage.
The Encounter
In a typical scenario, a patient might present with suicidal ideation and be seen immediately by an emergency physician on the hospital staff. Once an initial level-of-care evaluation takes place in the ER setting, the hospital will contact In- Sight’s Access Center and transmit a patient history.
Brennan said InSight provides a number of psychiatrists for the telepsychiatry services, and the hospital has been able to develop a rapport with these individuals over the course of the project. (The psychiatrists are required to be credentialed at the hospital facility with which they are working.)
Often the hospital staff physician will speak with the psychiatrist before the specialist conducts the patient interview. For the video interviews, the hospital uses several secure rooms that are located a fair distance from any hospital exits. A hospital employee, such as a nurse or a member of the security team, is required to be present while the patient is being assessed via video.
The interviews are highly detailed and usually last anywhere from 20 to 45 minutes, Brennan said.
The high-definition videoconferencing equipment helps to establish a process that very closely approximates what occurs in a face-to-face interview, she said.
“We’ve never had a patient refuse,” Brennan said, as the message to them becomes one of facilitating necessary services in the quickest manner possible. “The physicians are very skilled, and the patients like that it’s private.”
A written consult from the psychiatrist is faxed to the hospital upon completion of the specialist’s interview and evaluation. “We’re not waiting for a psychiatrist to come in when his office hours are over,” Brennan said.
Often it is the case that the psychiatrist’s consultation offers a rapid confirmation of a course of action that was already apparent to the hospital staff, from a referral to a specialty behavioral health facility in the community to a discharge without extensive follow-up.
Brennan added that having this service available not only helps establish more effective linkages with mental health providers outside the hospital for followup care, but also speaks to a more humane way of addressing patient needs.
“There is an increased focus now on the rights of the mental health patient, and on getting them to the right facility,” she said.
Additional Applications
Brennan believes the telepsychiatry option can work equally well for adult and adolescent patients. The secretary of the Delaware Department of Health recently said that telepsychiatry could assist in reaching underserved young people in a state that this year has seen a significant number of teen suicides related to unaddressed mental health needs.
Brennan said the telepsychiatry experience at Chester County Hospital has proven so effective that the hospital has begun to extend telehealth into other operations. It is now using similar technology for evaluations of stroke patients, she said.
Other hospitals across the country that are working with InSight technology have reported similar improvements in wait times and overall emergency operations as a result of telepsychiatry’s availability.
“On occasion, patients are taken to the hospital under the Baker Act for a behavioral issue when they’re actually under the influence of drugs or alcohol,” said Eddie Carie, behavioral health case manager at South Florida Baptist Hospital in Tampa.
“These patients used to wait days for a psychiatrist’s evaluation. Now, we’re able to have a psychiatrist evaluate the patient and make a decision within hours.”
TRENTON, NJ – New Jersey Governor Chris Christie signed Bill No. A1464 and S291/652/1954 on July 21st which allows for the practice and reimbursement of telemedicine and telehealth across the state. Before being signed by the governor, the telemedicine bill had bipartisan support and was passed unanimously through the New Jersey General Assembly and the Senate.
“Telehealth” as defined by the bill is the use of information and communications technologies to support clinical healthcare, and “telemedicine” is defined as the delivery of a health care service using electronic communications to bridge the gap between a health care provider and a patient. Telemedicine and telehealth are rapidly growing across the U.S. The American Telemedicine Association estimates that over half of U.S. hospitals use some form of telemedicine. Telemedicine has proven to be particularly effective for increasing access to care from specialty providers who no longer have to be physically present to deliver care.
One example of specialty care that this telemedicine law will help bring to New Jersey is access to child and adolescent psychiatry. New Jersey is estimated to need at least 3 times more child and adolescent psychiatrists in order to qualify as having a “sufficient supply” by the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.
While telemedicine policies vary in each state, the signing of this bill will make New Jersey one of the most innovative and patient-centered telemedicine states in the country. The state is already home to a handful of telemedicine programs, and the new law will provide the opportunity for the continued expansion of telemedicine.
“We’re enthused by the opportunities for improved access to care that this new law brings to the telemedicine industry and to New Jersey,” says Geoffrey Boyce, Executive Director of InSight Telepsychiatry, a national telepsychiatry service provider headquartered in New Jersey who helped to draft and advocate the bill. “We are thankful for the years of hard work the legislators and other advocates have put into making this come to life.”
Highlights of the new telepsychiatry legislation
The legislators who helped champion this bill and ensure that New Jersey residents have better access to care include: Pam Lampitt (D), Joseph Vitale (D), Herb Conaway Jr. (D), Craig Coughlin (D), Valerie Vainieri Huttle (D), Joe Lagana (D), Raj Mukherji (D), Jim Whelan (D), Diane Allen (R) and Shirley Turner (D).
The enactment of this bill is a significant step for the telehealth industry and increased access to care in the state of New Jersey.
By James Varrell, MD
The United States is facing a severe shortage of psychiatrists, in which 55 percent of counties nationwide currently have no psychiatrists available, according to a new report. This shortage is impacting the country’s health care system, particularly for primary-care doctors, who increasingly have to assume these roles to treat mental or behavioral health conditions.
Taking on mental health care often requires more time and resources to adequately assess and treat such conditions, which can further limit the valuable time doctors have with other patients at the point of care.
Moreover, the delivery of specialized mental healthcare can be out of the realm of expertise or comfort for many primary-care doctors. When it is, it makes sense to refer care to psychiatry providers. Yet, due to the current shortage of psychiatrists, patients may need to wait weeks—sometimes even months—to be seen by a local psychiatry provider in their community.
This is where direct-to-consumer telepsychiatry, also known as in-home telepsychiatry, can help fill the gap for primary-care doctors. Telepsychiatry is a type of telemedicine that uses videoconferencing to provide psychiatric evaluation, consultation and treatment.
Why direct-to-consumer telepsychiatry?
Telepsychiatry offers several benefits, and meets the standard of traditional in-person care. Telepsychiatry can meet patients where they are, whether at home or in a private office, eliminating time spent traveling to appointments or in waiting rooms. It also allows more flexibility with scheduling, as direct-to-consumer telepsychiatry providers usually work from home themselves and can offer appointments during non-traditional hours, including evenings and weekends.
By eliminating long wait times associated with community-based psychiatry options, direct-to-consumer telepsychiatry enables greater accessibility to psychiatry providers and supports continuity of care. It expands the reach outside the local community, so patients have access to high quality care and a variety of specialized providers. As long as a telepsychiatry provider is licensed in the state where a patient is physically located, they can deliver care. This also opens the door for patients to continue seeing their same psychiatry provider throughout many life transitions; including job changes, college, and vacations.
Just like with in-person treatment, patients meet with the same telepsychiatry provider over time, allowing the patient and his or her consented primary-care doctor to develop a rapport with the remote psychiatrist. By ensuring the mental health of a patient is appropriately addressed, primary-care doctors can better attend to the patient’s physical health.
Key considerations when referring patients
Referring patients to direct-to-consumer telepsychiatry is similar to referring to any outpatient setting. Like other referrals, the process begins with an intake of patient’s medical history and applicable screenings to determine if the patient requires specialty care.
Telepsychiatry is versatile and has been proven effective with all age groups. For patients who worry about mental or behavioral health stigmas, telepsychiatry may help them follow-up with referrals to psychiatry providers who they can see through telehealth as opposed to those they would have to see in-person.
Referral coordinators can help determine if a patient is appropriate for in-home, direct-to-consumer treatment by asking a few simple questions and considering the following:
For many remote referral groups, patients have the option to choose from a list of applicable psychiatry providers based on specialty and area of expertise, and schedule an online appointment at their convenience.
Expanding your referral community
Because telepsychiatry is a newer type of referral option, a practice may want to test direct-to-consumer care on a small group of early adopters to create an easy system for referring before offering this option practice-wide. When evaluating remote referral group options, primary-care doctors should consider:
After a few early adopters, a practice can gauge their comfort level with this type of referral option, generate buy-in from staff and patients and roll out the direct-to-consumer referral option practice-wide.
The impact of telepsychiatry
With direct-to-consumer telepsychiatry as a referral option, primary-care doctors don’t have to settle for the limited choices within their community or provide mental or behavioral health services themselves. Using telepsychiatry, doctors can ensure the mental health of their patients is addressed in an effective and timely fashion, which can ultimately have a direct impact on their health, wellbeing and overall quality of life.
James R. Varrell, M.D. is a child and adolescent psychiatrist who has been practicing telepsychiatry for 18 years and is the Medical Director of InSight Telepsychiatry. InSight’s direct-to-consumer division that currently accepts patient referrals for psychiatry and therapy is called Inpathy.
Read the full article on Physician’s Practice here.
By James Varrell, M.D. | Jul. 07, 2017 – Original article on NAMI.org/Blog
Anna struggled to leave her home because of her severe anxiety and depression. Because her psychiatrist’s office was more than an hour away, the stress of commuting often made Anna’s symptoms worse. Anna needed a more practical treatment option and believed there had to be one out there. In her search, she discovered telepsychiatry.
Telepsychiatry is a growing and clinically effective way to provide mental health care via online video calls. One of telepsychiatry’s newest applications called direct-to-consumer (D2C) telepsychiatry is quickly becoming a popular solution for many struggling to find convenient and effective care. D2C telepsychiatry allows providers to deliver mental health care to individuals in their homes (or any other private space) using computers, tablets or phones.
For Anna, and the millions of people living with mental health conditions, this innovative option takes away the stress of commuting to and from an in-person office setting. Telepsychiatry sessions are also far easier to fit into busy schedules. With telepsychiatry, Anna could have her sessions at home after her children had gone to bed. Most importantly, Anna could now receive consistent treatment, empowering her to better cope with her conditions.
The Benefits of Telepsychiatry
Unfortunately, Anna is not alone. More than 55 percent of U.S. counties are currently without any psychiatrists at all. Even in areas that do have mental health professionals, there are simply not enough providers to go around. And because most psychiatrists are concentrated in cities, many people outside these areas, like Anna, endure long commutes to reach the nearest psychiatrist with available appointment times.
For those who share Anna’s experience, D2C telepsychiatry offers an alternative. Here are some of the many ways a person can benefit from telepsychiatry:
Telepsychiatry makes it possible for people like Anna to receive care in a comfortable, familiar environment. This new form of treatment has the capacity to improve the lives of millions by increasing access to mental health care across the country.
James R. Varrell, M.D. is a child and adolescent psychiatrist who has been practicing telepsychiatry for 18 years and is the Medical Director of InSight Telepsychiatry. InSight’s direct-to-consumer division that accepts patient referrals for psychiatry and therapy is called Inpathy.
KALAMAZOO, MI – Representatives from InSight Telepsychiatry participated in a grand rounds presentation for the Department of Psychiatry at Western Michigan University Homer Stryker, M.D. School of Medicine. This was the first time the School of Medicine held a presentation on the topic of telepsychiatry.
The presenters were Randy McCloud and Dillon Euler, M.D. McCloud has a decade of diverse healthcare experiences and extensive clinical knowledge of behavioral health, in addition to experience designing and implementing successful telepsychiatry programs. Dr. Euler has focused his career on public and community psychiatry, forensic psychiatry and administrative consulting. For the past two years, Dr. Euler has worked in emergency telepsychiatry and is very interested in improving access to and quality of psychiatric care in various communities.
In their presentation entitled, How to Make Telepsychiatry Work, McCloud and Dr. Euler discussed:
As an appropriate demonstration of telemedicine’s technological capabilities, Dr. Euler joined via videoconference and shared a clinical case study demonstrating the strengths of telepsychiatry care in practice. Those in attendance were left with a few “Telepsychiatry Takeaways” to remember as they continue their work in the behavioral health field.
About InSight + Regroup
InSight + Regroup (now Array Behavioral Care) is the leading and largest telepsychiatry service provider in the US with a mission to transform access to quality behavioral health care. InSight + Regroup serves hundreds of organizations and individuals in various settings across the continuum of care with its on-demand, scheduled services and direct-to-consumer (Inpathy) divisions. Given its size, diversity of services and extensive experience and expertise, InSight + Regroup is uniquely positioned to enable scalable telepsychiatry programs across the care continuum. As an industry thought leader, InSight + Regroup has helped shape the field, define the standard of care and advocate for improved telepsychiatry-friendly regulations. To learn more, visit www.arraybc.com.
WASHINGTON, DC (PRWEB) JUNE 16, 2017 – Olivia Boyce, marketing and communications manager at InSight Telepsychiatry, spoke at the Mental Health America (MHA) 2017 Annual Conference held in Washington, D.C. She discussed the mental health landscape in Montana and presented on an innovative program that the MHA of Montana Chapter is using to bring increased access to mental health care to this underserved state.
Olivia Boyce Speaks on Using Telemental Health to Address the Crisis in Montana at Mental Health America’s 2017 Conference
The conference theme this year is Sex, Drugs and Rock & Roll – all often considered to be controversial topics. MHA challenged attendees and speakers to talk openly about the messy and uneasy truths that accompany mental health, mental illness and addiction in hopes of starting conversations around potential solutions.
As part of the Rocking it On the Local Level breakout group where MHA Affiliate Programs discussed ways that their programs are creating change in local communities, Boyce will be presenting on the telemental health program that her organization and MHA of Montana under executive director Dan Aune, has worked to implement.
Currently in Montana, 1 out of 5 adults are diagnosed with depression and there are 23.8 suicides per 100,000 people – the 3rd highest rate in the U.S (AFSP.org). Boyce explained some of the risk factors that are specific to Montana include geographic isolation, a “man-up” attitude, high use of alcohol, easy access to firearms and a mental health provider shortage (KFF.org). She then went on to explore how direct-to-consumer telemental health can uniquely address some of these challenges.
Direct-to-consumer (D2C) telemental health, also known as telebehavioral health or telepsychiatry, is the delivery of psychiatry, mental or behavioral health care directly to consumers through convenient online video calls.
The idea for the MHA of Montana telemental health program started two years ago at the annual MHA conference when Boyce and Aune, met and brainstormed options for supplementing the mental health services in Montana with telehealth.
InSight and MHA of Montana have worked together to recruit Montana-licensed providers to participate in the program, credential them with Montana insurance payers and get them trained and set up using InSight’s telehealth platform, Inpathy.com. The telemental health program will formally kick off and begin to be promoted to potential consumers across the state later this summer.
About Mental Health America
Mental Health America (MHA) – founded in 1909 – is the nation’s leading community-based nonprofit dedicated to addressing the needs of those living with mental illness and to promoting the overall mental health of all Americans. Their work is driven by a commitment to promote mental health as a critical part of overall wellness, including prevention services for all, early identification and intervention for those at risk, integrated care, services, and supports for those who need it, with recovery as the goal. Much of their current work is guided by the Before Stage 4 (B4Stage4) philosophy – that mental health conditions should be treated long before they reach the most critical points in the disease process
About InSight + Regroup
InSight + Regroup (now Array Behavioral Care) is the leading and largest telepsychiatry service provider in the US with a mission to transform access to quality behavioral health care. InSight + Regroup serves hundreds of organizations and individuals in various settings across the continuum of care with its on-demand, scheduled services and direct-to-consumer (Inpathy) divisions. Given its size, diversity of services and extensive experience and expertise, InSight + Regroup is uniquely positioned to enable scalable telepsychiatry programs across the care continuum. As an industry thought leader, InSight + Regroup has helped shape the field, define the standard of care and advocate for improved telepsychiatry-friendly regulations. To learn more, visit www.arraybc.com.
Read the original press release here.
