W#15 Pharma

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643 - WEEK 15 ASSIGNMENT 1: CURRENT TRENDS AND TOPICS

NU 643 – Advanced Psychopharmacology

643 - Week 15 Assignment 1: Current Trends and Topics: Telemedicine

Telemedicine is one of the current trends and debatable topics in the healthcare sector today. Telemedicine refers to caring for patients remotely when the patients and the providers are not physically present together. Technological advancements have enabled patients to consult providers via HIPAA video conferencing tools, making telemedicine easy (Jin et al., 2019). To practice telemedicine, one needs a secure internet connection, a video platform, and technological support. Individuals may determine whether to record the audio or not. All these factors are crucial to ensuring that the care providers and the patient can hear and see one another when the care provider performs the practice.

In my state, Florida, new telemedicine legislation has not yet been passed by the lawmakers due to disagreements on whether the patients should be treated out of the clinic or not. However, although telemedicine has not yet been implemented into a law, many physicians or healthcare providers in Florida still use telemedicine in their practices (Turner Lee et al., 2020). Additionally, there are no parity laws about telemedicine in Florida. This means that Florida does not legally require Medicaid or private payers to cover telemedicine services, as is the case of face-face treatment. However, in 2019, the lawmakers in Florida imposed a new law to allow out of state healthcare professionals deliver telehealth to local patients.

I certainly see a role in my future practice. Though there are plenty of obstacles surrounding telemedicine, it can be said that the future of healthcare is telemedicine. Some of the factors that may lead to increased telemedicine usage in the future are; the shortages of providers and the influx of patients with various diseases, among many more other factors. In the recent past, there has been an influx of patients, thus creating a shortage in care providers. If this continues, there will be no other option but to provide telemedicine to meet all people's needs.

My personal perspective on applying this practice in the provision of psychiatric care is that it should be integrated into care provision. First, telemedicine will improve access to mental health specialty care that might otherwise not be available (Committee on Pediatric Workforce, 2015). In most rural areas, patients cannot receive care because the services are not readily available. However, it will be easy to examine such people with telemedicine, diagnose them, and offer some effective treatments for their conditions. Additionally, telemedicine will improve continuity of care and follow-up among patients with psychiatry disorders.

Telepsychiatry compares to face-to-face visits in that the outcomes obtained are equivalent. In a recent study that compared a variety of clinical outcomes between psychiatry and face to face contact, it was found out that the consultations and follow-up provided by the telepsychiatry produce the same outcomes as those achieved by the patients that seek face to face care (Zheng et al., 2017). The study asserts that the outcomes that result from telepsychiatry can be as effective as those yielded by face to face visit.

Finally, various logistical considerations for a provider to consider before beginning telepsychiatry are as follows. One of the considerations is how the telepsychiatry platform compares with the other tasks. Before starting telepsychiatry, it is essential to understand how the system will connect patients with providers and derive actionable insights from telehealth devices. And the other logistic to consider is examining ways to provide superior care with the telepsychiatry system. The idea of providing home care is not merely providing care services but to improve care provision.

References

Jin, M. X., Kim, S. Y., Miller, L. J., Behari, G., & Correa, R. (2020). Telemedicine: current impact on the future. Cureus, 12(8).

Turner Lee, N., Karsten, J., & Roberts, J. (2020). Removing regulatory barriers to telehealth before and after COVID-19. Brookings. Retrieved from https://www.brookings.edu/research/removing-regulatory-barriers-to-telehealth-before- and-after-covid-19/.

Committee on Pediatric Workforce. (, 2015). The use of telemedicine to address access and physician workforce shortages. Pediatrics, 136(1), 202-209.

Zheng, W., Nickasch, M., Lander, L., Wen, S., Xiao, M., Marshalek, P., ... & Sullivan, C. (2017). Treatment Outcome Comparison between Telepsychiatry and Face-to-face Buprenorphine Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT) for Opioid Use Disorder: A 2- Year Retrospective Data Analysis. Journal of addiction medicine, 11(2), 138.