Additional clinical benefits of home-based telemental health treatments.

Abstract

Home-based telemental health (HBTMH) has several important benefits for both patients and clinical practitioners including improved access to services, convenience, flexibility, and potential cost savings. HBTMH also has the potential to offer additional clinical benefits that are not realized with traditional in-office alternatives. Through a review of the empirical literature, this article presents and evaluates evidence of the clinical benefits and limitations of HBTMH. Particular topics include treatment atten dance and satisfaction, social support, access to contextual information, patient and practitioner safety, and concerns about privacy and stigma. By making use of commonly available communication technol ogies, HBTMH affords opportunities to bridge gaps in care to meet current and future mental health care needs.

Identifying and addressing mental health providers’ perceived barriers to clinical video telehealth utilization

“…One form of TMH, clinical video telehealth (CVT), uses Internet‐based video teleconferencing to provide synchronous communication between providers and their patients. Home‐based TMH (HBTMH) allows patients to receive mental health treatment from their home or an alternative appropriate location, typically via CVT (Pruitt, Luxton, & Shore, ). Alternatively, CVT can be used to connect patients at small, rural community clinics with specialty providers at other locations.…”

The evolution and history of telepsychiatry and its impact on psychiatric care: Current implications for psychiatrists and psychiatric organizations

“…Private psychiatrists have begun providing care in these settings along with the rise of a number of telepsychiatry companies over the past several years that directly market to consumers. The federal systems and the larger providers have been slower to widely adapt telepsychiatry into the home but have initiated pilots looking at feasibility, workfl ow and models for direct in-home care Luxton et al, 2010;Pruitt et al, 2014). There has been enough widespread adoption of in-home videoconferencing that the American Telemedicine Association (ATA) recently published guidelines for clinicians interested in using web-based videoconferencing in both supervised and unsupervised settings (Turvey et al, 2013).…”

Institutionally based videoconferencing

“…The VA has been a leader in development of programmes other than institution to institution connections. VA Mental health professionals have been at the forefront of providing services directly into the homes of geographically isolated veterans (Pruitt et al, 2014). The VA utilizes protocols for suicide prevention and evaluation of several psychiatric conditions including PTSD, chemical dependency, schizophrenia, and depression.…”