Telepsychiatry within Healthcare Services:
- Hospital Emergency Departments
- Mental Health Crisis Centers
- Involuntary Commitments
- Inpatient Psych Units
- Hospital STAT Consults
- Community Mental Health Centers
- Outpatient Offices
- Specialty Units for Children & Adolescents or Geropsych
Benefits
- Access to Specialityi Care
- Reduced Inappropriate Admissions
- Timely Evaluation within 1 Hour
- Risk Reduction for ED Staff and Patients
- Regulatory Compliance and Survey/Audit Preparedness
- Decreased After Hours Call for Existing Staff
- Decreased Wait Times, Reduced 1 to 1 Observation, Increased Throughput
InSight Addresses the Issue of Emergency Room Boarding: Telepsychiatry services
are provided to hospital emergency rooms and crisis centers to improve Emergency
Department throughput, reduce risk, and provide greater access to timely quality
psychiatric care.
Over a decade ago, the CFG Health Network was about to sign a contract to provide
behavioral health services for a hospital located in rural New Jersey. In the midst
of negotiations, a child in the emergency room died due to lack of access to a pediatric
specialist. Forced to close down its emergency department for several days, the
hospital needed to find a way to have specialists available and on-site within one
hour of the patients’ arrival. This was a uniquely challenging dilemma in an already
underserved, rural community. The problem arose that begged the question “How can
anyone possibly meet this requirement when there are no psychiatrists in the area
to get there within the given timeframe?” It was then that CFG Health Network CEO,
Les Paschall, introduced New Jersey’s first telepsychiatry program to solve the
customer’s conundrum. Not only did the use of telepsychiatry play a major role in
re-opening the emergency room back to the public by allowing for psychiatrists to
be readily available 24 hours a day via video conferencing, it also enhanced the
availability of psychiatric services in the community. Telepsychiatry allowed for
access to psychiatric services to more patients than would have existed otherwise.
InSight Telepsychiatry, LLC was the pioneer in bringing telepsychiatry services
to New Jersey at this time; however as the pioneers, the company was faced with
the challenges of paving the way for the use of this technology. Where many organizations
would view these issues as obstacles, InSight instead saw this as an opportunity
to improve psychiatric services in New Jersey through revising existing state regulations
and developing a cutting edge, state of the art service that would ultimately provide
a unique service delivery mechanism to an expanded population in need of behavioral
health services. In order to move this process forward, InSight worked very closely
with the NJ State Department of Human Services to draft regulations in compliance
with the use of telepsychiatry. InSight also took the initiative to research and
document the effectiveness of the service and develop training modules that quelled
any uncertainty surrounding the practice.
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