Increasing Access to Rural Mental Health Care Using Hybrid Care That Includes Telepsychiatry
Date
2019-01Author
Hughes, M. Courtney, 1976--
Gorman, Jack M.
Ren, Yingqian
Khalid, Sana
Clayton, Carol
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
There is a lack of access to mental health care in rural areas of the United States. One
potential strategy for increasing access and improving health outcomes for rural
dwellers is offering hybrid psychiatric care, a combination of in-person and telepsychiatry
services. Although prior research has shown telepsychiatry can help overcome
access barriers, there is a lack of research on the use of hybrid care for patients in rural
areas following an inpatient admission or an emergency department visit—a time when
many patients are in high need of follow-up care. The aim of this project was to
examine process and outcome measures associated with mental health to determine the
effectiveness of delivering hybrid care to Medicaid-covered patients in rural Missouri
following an inpatient admission or an emergency department visit. Data from 242
patients were analyzed using a retrospective quasi-experimental design. The group with
hybrid telepsychiatry plus in-person visits had improved timeliness of care and increased
number of total outpatient encounters compared to the group with in-person
visits only, indicating hybrid care may be more effective than in-person visits alone are.
The current study suggests that offering telepsychiatry can help close the gap in access
to mental health care between rural and urban populations, particularly during the time
after an inpatient admission or an emergency department visit. As telepsychiatry
service options continue to grow, making this delivery mode available to rural populations
may have a positive impact on mental health outcomes in the United States.