Telepsychiatry helps rural areas access mental health care, but lack of broadband can limit reach of telehealth in general - Entrepreneur Generations

Telemedicine can help bring mental health care to rural areas and improve doctor recruitment, as one company's adoption of the practice shows. Meridian Health Services in Indiana increased its investment in telepsychiatry over the past six months, partly because of the opioid addiction crisis, Yuki Noguchi reports for NPR. There's also a big financial incentive to expand to rural areas, since Medicare and Medicaid pay more for care in underserved areas.

Meridian patients drive to local offices where a nurse takes their vitals and establishes a secure video call to a psychiatrist in Indianapolis. According to one patient, interacting with the doctor via computer screen feels more comfortable and less confrontational: "It's easier because they're not there, so I feel like I can tell more, and speak more and truly just be fully real," the patient told Noguchi. "If they're sitting right there, I might not want to say everything or say as much."

Telehealth is a promising avenue for expanding mental health care access in rural areas, where the geographic isolation otherwise "exacerbates a vicious cycle," Noguchi reports. "A shortage of doctors means patients can't get timely care. The health system atrophies, and doctor recruitment gets even tougher."

Almost all states provide some type of Medicaid coverage and reimbursement for telehealth, and 39 states and the District of Columbia have some kind of private payer policy, according to a recent report from the National Conference of State Legislatures. However, many rural regions can't access telehealth services because they lack broadband infrastructure, Richard Craver reports for the Winston-Salem Journal.

from The Rural Blog https://ift.tt/2ZWFFmc Telepsychiatry helps rural areas access mental health care, but lack of broadband can limit reach of telehealth in general - Entrepreneur Generations

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