Telepsychiatry Decrease In The Cost: A Case Study

psychiatrist must be credentialed at each facility that they provide service at and if the psychiatrist is across a state line, they must be licensed in both states, which is time consuming and costly.

After telepsychiatry was implemented into the respondent’s Emergency Department and physicians and nurses were in constant contact with a mental health professional, and became accustomed to its use, they began to get a greater understanding of the issues facing a mental health patient. Subsequently, the use of telepsychiatry decreased over time. The decrease in use of telepsychiatry, decreased the costs incurred by the facilities because many insurances do not cover telepsychiatry.

This lack of insurance coverage for telepsychiatry could be

one reason why there are very few telepsychiatry programs in Emergency Departments. The lack of insurance coverage also forces facilities to rely on grants for their telepsychiatry programs. At the same time, there is a shortage of mental health professionals, which leads to a shortage of care, misdiagnosis, and delayed care for the mental health patient.
Telepsychiatry can potentially provide a solution to the challenges the Emergency Department faces. Telepsychiatry can bridge the gap and provide quick and appropriate care at
low cost to the facility and the patient. Promptness in care becomes very important for the mental health patient in crisis.
I did not like this study because it consisted of telephone surveys which are subjective in nature. The hospitals that participated responded to the questions utilizing the Likert Scale and I think the questions can be worded in such a way as to skew the study in favor of the researcher. A negatively-worded question can differ from those obtained on a positively worded
ASSIGNMENT FIVE, SUMMARY OF THREE ARTICLES 9
questionnaire, therefore the study could be inaccurate, based on how the questions was worded. Another aspect of the study I did not like was the researchers utilized Google to identify potential resource centers. I feel utilizing Google to identify potential resources allows for bias on the part of the researchers. Another reason I did not like the study is because it was prepared for the California Healthcare Foundation and was therefore funded by them. This also can have an effect on the outcome of the study because the researchers may have designed the study for the California Healthcare Foundation expectations. Overall, I did not take this study very seriously because of the disadvantages mentioned.