Abstract
While only recently the widespread use of telehealth in community psychiatry was considered a far-fetched goal, the COVID-19 global pandemic has made telehealth the norm across most community mental health systems. The use of telehealth in community psychiatry has many advantages, including allowing mental health provider agencies to be flexible to the service needs of the community; telehealth technology has already become commonplace in many other arenas; and telehealth allows community psychiatrists to work in multiple settings, thereby allowing agencies to optimize their psychiatrists’ time. However, the rapid transformation due to the COVID-19 crisis exposed significant equity issues in access to broadband data and video-equipped smartphones that require aggressive intervention to overcome and ensure full implementation and integration of telehealth services. Also, certain patients may not be appropriate for treatment with telehealth. This chapter also explores practical implementation of telehealth services, ethical and legal considerations, and the emergence of new technologies such as applications and specialized software.
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Disclosures
Dr. Fishkind is a consultant for Orbis Health, Inc. Dr. Cuyler is the Chief Clinical Officer of and owns shares in Freespira Inc. Dr. Cuyler was a consultant for BrainCheck Inc. Dr. Casoy does not have any disclosures to report.
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Casoy, F., Cuyler, R., Fishkind, A.B. (2022). Telehealth and Technology. In: Sowers, W.E., McQuistion, H.L., Ranz, J.M., Feldman, J.M., Runnels, P.S. (eds) Textbook of Community Psychiatry. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-10239-4_54
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