How Telepsychiatry is Optimal for Hospitals and Health Systems

This form of telehealth addresses the psychiatrist shortage, helps serve patients in underserved areas and boosts patient satisfaction, a telepsychiatry expert says. Currently, many hospitals are working to meet the needs of their behavioral health patients through innovation, leveraging telehealth and extended provider networks to create proactive behavioral health care models. From what we've seen, the most successful strategy is an integrated model where the health system, psychiatrists, therapists, psychiatric mental health nurse practitioners (PMHNPs) and other key stakeholders surround the patient in a coordinated fashion to deliver individualized, value-based care. With such a high need, there will never be enough hospital staff to handle the volume of behavioral health patients entering the health system, let alone their ongoing care.

The numbers are clear - there simply are not enough clinicians to support the needs of behavioral health patients using traditional care delivery methods. The telepsychiatry model also enables patients in historically underserved communities to receive top-quality psychiatric care. Telepsychiatry can aid in providing quality, timely, sustainable care - whether to patients in the emergency department, patients who have been recently discharged, patients waiting in a referral queue or those trying to seek care in ambulatory clinics. Additionally, behavioral health patients frequently face economic and social challenges, including getting the necessary transportation, child care and time off from work to accommodate in-person visits. Finally, telepsychiatry improves patient satisfaction by enabling patients to receive timelier care. Furthermore, by enabling more streamlined behavioral health consults, providers can prevent patients from escalating to the ED – the costliest care setting for patients and providers.