Planning and Implementing Telepsychiatry in a Community Mental Health Setting: A Case Study Report

Abstract

Healthcare institutions in the United States are increasingly adopting telehealth services given their numerous benefits in enhancing access to care. Despite that, few accounts of such organizational experiences in the literature exist, especially those pertaining to telepsychiatry. In this case study, we report the planning and implementation of a telepsychiatry program adopted by a community mental health organization in suburban Chicago, Illinois from 2017 until 2019. We analyze findings gathered from the organization's secondary archival data, highlighting process and outcome evaluations of the program. Results show high levels of patient engagement compared to in-person service modality. Also, our results show an increase in the number of patients served, efficiency in service delivery, decreases in patient wait time to accessing services, and overall positive feedback from patients, families, and staff members. We discuss the successes and challenges encountered by the organization and synthesize them into practical applications recommended for similar initiatives.

Rising Mental Health Incidence Among Adolescents in Westchester, NY

“…The techniques we used, including combining large datasets from multiple sources, the split-apply-combine paradigm, and open-source software tools have not been reported in the journal Community Mental Health. Of the current 4062 articles in the searchable database for the journal Community Mental Health, the term “big data” does not occur, and the term “data analytics” occurs only twice (Shukor et al 2019 ; Mahmoud et al 2020 ). Hence, the discussion of more recent techniques in the area of big data analytics could be beneficial to the readers of this journal.…”

Revolutionizing Healthcare: How Telemedicine Is Improving Patient Outcomes and Expanding Access to Care

“…In mental health care, telepsychiatry has expanded access to mental health services, offering timely support and reducing the stigma associated with in-person visits. Moreover, integrating telemedicine into emergency care has demonstrated the potential to reduce hospital admissions and improve triage efficiency [16][17][18].…”