Video Conferencing in Behavioral Health, aka Telepsychiatry
Psychiatry is emerging as one of the most promising uses of telemedicine, however the jury is still out on whether it will join the mainstream as a method or means of treatment. The American Psychiatric Association does support telemedicine, “to the extent that its use is in the best interest of the patient,” and practitioners meet the rules of ethics and confidentiality. The APA has also expressed an interest in supporting telepsychiatry as a possible solution to shortages of specialists in rural areas in states such as New Mexico and Louisiana. And this actually makes perfect sense. In the more rural areas of the U.S. where there is no local clinic or alternative, mental health practitioners embrace telemedicine as a way to reach out to those in need.
Telepsychiatry’s true calling may be the link it can provide between urban areas with a high concentration of psychiatrists and rural areas that are in need of specialists who can provide consultations to both other clinicians and directly to patients. Access is the real issue here. Geriatric patients, children, prisoners, military veterans and other groups that have either monetary or geographic barriers to psychiatric treatment could all benefit from adoption of telepsychiatry programs.
Large healthcare systems, such as state prisons, can also take advantage of the remote access provided by telepsychiatry. Many state prisons are located in small towns in very rural areas and as a result, have a difficult time recruiting psychiatrists. Utilizing video conferencing systems from the prison, the inmate population would have direct access to qualified specialists no matter where they are located.
In order for the widespread adoption of telepsychiatry, the programs must prove they are cost-effective. The decreasing cost of the technology, especially IP-based videoconferencing, will only help in establishing proof of cost-efficiency. Secondly, an increasing willingness on the part of Medicare to reimburse for telemedicine services would most likely result in increasing acceptance of services by third-party payors. Before this happens, standards of practice must be developed that are reasonable, fair and replicable.
At this point in time, there are no empirical studies that prove the benefits or support the establishment of a telepsychiatry program. Not enough studies have been done to date. The studies that have been done do support telepsychiatry as a means of conducting assessments and improving a patients clinical status.
The emergence of IP-based web and video conferencing, accomplished by installing software on one server and providing access to other individuals on standard PCs with high-speed Internet connections, will undoubtedly add to the eventual widespread adoption of telemedicine, telehealth and telepsychiatry programs throughout the country and the world. As the cost of PCs and video conferencing software decreases, it will make traveling great distances for diagnosis and consultations a thing of the past much like the doctor house call.
For more information on video conferencing and telemedicine, please visit http://www.ehealthvideoconferencing.com/