Home direct-to-consumer telehealth solutions for children with mental health disorders and the impact of Covid-19

Abstract

Delivery of mental health treatment in the home can close gaps in care. Telehealth also provides access to healthcare that has been disrupted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2016, a home direct-to-consumer telehealth program was initiated. Mental health encounters made up a significant portion of all telehealth encounters and COVID-19 had a significant impact on accelerating the utilization of telehealth. Telemental health has been more successful at meeting targeted volumes than the overall health system. Of all the mental health diagnoses before and during COVID-19, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, Autism Spectrum Disorder, and Anxiety Disorder were most common. The direct-to-consumer telehealth program saved patients a significant amount of travel miles and associated time, based on data from the period before COVID-19. Payment reimbursement for direct-to-consumer telehealth professional services was similar to reimbursement for in-person visits. This program demonstrates direct-to-consumer telehealth is a feasible and acceptable care modality for a variety of youth mental health disorders.

Impacts of health care service changes implemented due to COVID‐19 on children and young people with long‐term disability: A mapping review

“…The remaining papers were focused on behaviour programmes (e.g. behaviour counselling, applied behavioural analysis therapy; n = 9), 54–62 speech and language therapy ( n = 4), 63–66 physiotherapy ( n = 3), 53,67,68 mental health support ( n = 2), 69,70 auditory‐verbal therapy for children and young people with a hearing impairment ( n = 1), 71 rehabilitative therapy for children and young people with vision impairment ( n = 1), 72 and early intervention coaching ( n = 1) 73 …”

“…The remaining papers were focused on behaviour programmes (e.g. behaviour counselling, applied behavioural analysis therapy; n = 9), [54][55][56][57][58][59][60][61][62] speech and language therapy (n = 4), [63][64][65][66] physiotherapy (n = 3), 53,67,68 mental health support (n = 2), 69,70 auditory-verbal therapy for children and young people with a hearing impairment (n = 1), 71 rehabilitative therapy for children and young people with vision impairment (n = 1), 72 and early intervention coaching (n = 1). 73 The percentages of families reporting attending a telehealth appointment with an AHP tended to be lower (less than 50% of study samples) than those reported for medical care appointments (over 50% of study samples).…”

Parent involvement enhances CBTs for anxiety disorders in Hispanic/Latino youth: Acculturation as a moderator.

“…In addition, most families who completed treatment came from married households. Perhaps single-parent households face barriers that interfere with attendance, such as childcare for siblings or work-related responsibilities, and other ways of involving parents in treatment may be warranted (e.g., telehealth; Khanna & Carper, 2022; Norman et al, 2022).…”

Artificial intelligence enabled conversational agent for mental healthcare

“…In this setting, digital tools were welcomed as a solution to problems including social stigma and a mismatch between demand and supplies for mental healthcare. Instead of the traditional mental health treatment paradigm, it was predicted that digital technologies would provide more flexible, accessible, inexpensive, and maybe less stigmatizing alternatives (Norman et al, 2022). Flexible approaches were urgently needed as a consequence of the lack of access to mental healthcare (Myran et al, 2022).…”