The COVID-19 pandemic has brought major stress on a worldwide scale, resulting in increased anxiety, sadness, and other mental diseases. This was accompanied by disruption and difficulty in the delivery of mental health treatment. This instability of rising demand and restricted access to mental health resulted in creating difficult and challenging situations. To avoid these situations, there had to be a significant change in the mode of delivering service and care, and this was done through videoconferencing while providing payment coverage as well. According to a December 21 HHS study, Medicare telehealth usage has increased 63-fold during the epidemic.
Arash Javanbakht is an academic psychiatrist and expert in outpatient psychiatry. Initially, he himself was a bit doubtful, but when presented with scientific data of similar effectiveness he began to treat his patients through telepsychiatry. He gradually got confident with the practice and observed various benefits.
What is Telepsychiatry?
It is a confidential and HIPAA-compliant video conferencing session between patient and the psychiatrist. This strategy appears more practical in a profession where the majority of the medical examination is done through observation and talking to the patient than in specializations that need a complete physical examination. Telepsychiatry is as effective as traditional face-to-face visits as it gives an equal amount of satisfaction for all ages.
Challenges
Adopting new technologies always comes up with certain sets of challenges, especially if there is no proper connectivity for high-speed internet. Limited logistics and knowledge for videoconferencing reduce the access to patients’ non-verbal behavior. Sound quality is also another problem that is frequently faced during video-conferencing, due to this the meetings usually result in the extension of the duration. Patients can also feel the lack of confidentiality as there are restrictions on where they can connect with the psychiatrist, especially if they are not in a private space.
Opportunities
In spite of facing these obstacles, telepsychiatry has created huge potential, especially for underprivileged patients. Irrespective of the geographical location patients and psychiatrists can now communicate whenever and wherever. For example, they can connect via video conference from their home, offices, parks, during lunch breaks, etc. This is also beneficial for people who have busy work schedules or with physical disabilities. Recent research discovered a 7.5 % no-show rate for telepsychiatry, compared to a 30% no-show rate for office visits prior to the pandemic. The time saved helps providers as well since they will have fewer no-shows, and latecomers, and will not require transportation to and from work.
The Future Potential
As the pandemic declines, clinics have started offering face-to-face sessions, but many still operate in hybrid mode. Telepsychiatry appears to be satisfactory to both physicians and patients. Key aspects of the post-pandemic future of telemedicine would be regulatory: some jurisdictions appear to be tightening their rules to prevent a practitioner licensed in one state from providing care to patients in other jurisdictions virtually.
Organizations such as the American Medical Associations have been collaborating with lawmakers to provide permanent remote access to treatment, regardless of geographical location or context. Large telemedicine firms with a nationwide service range and the employment of cutting-edge technology such as virtual reality and augmented reality for face to face therapies.
Author- Toshank Bhardwaj, AI and Telemedicine Content Creator
