For Immediate Release
New Guidelines on Best Practices for Videoconferencing-Based Telemental Health
Contact: Kathryn Ryan
914-740-2250
kryan@liebertpub.com
New Rochelle, NY, October 29, 2018—New guidance is available from the American Psychiatric Association (APA) and the American Telemedicine Association (ATA) to assist in the development and delivery of effective and safe interactive videoconferencing-based mental health services. This kind of telemental health service can increase access to quality healthcare, and has shown in some settings to be more effective than in-person treatment. These new best practices are published in Telemedicine and e-Health, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. publishers. Click here to read the full-text article free on the Telemedicine and e-Health website through November 29, 2018.
The article entitled “Best Practices in Videoconferencing-Based Telemental Health” was a team effort, coauthored by Jay Shore, MD, MPH, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus (Aurora) and colleagues from University of California, Davis (Sacramento), The University of Louisville School of Medicine (KY), HealthLinkNow (Sacramento CA), The University of Iowa, Carver College of Medicine (Iowa City), Emory University School of Medicine (Atlanta, GA), Seattle Children’s Hospital (WA), Portland Veterans Affairs Health Care System (OR), Orbit Health Telepsychiatry (Encino, CA), and Northern California Veterans Affairs Health Care System (Sacramento).
The new best practices are based on expert consensus, research evidence, available resources, and patient needs. They cover a wide range of topics including emergency situations, technical considerations, choice of location for the videoconference, and privacy, security, and HIPAA. The section on clinical considerations includes patient and setting selection, ethical considerations, and cultural issues. The guidance also covers special populations, such as children and adolescents, geriatric patients, and those individuals who work within correctional facilities, work with active military personnel or veterans, substance use disorder treatment, and those who work in inpatient or residential facilities.
"These guidelines are an attestation of the expertise this collection of subject matter experts, who have devoted their careers to enhancing healthcare through the integration of telemedicine and telehealth, have brought to the challenges of mental health," says Co-Editor-in-Chief Charles R. Doarn, MBA, Professor of Family and Community Medicine, University of Cincinnati, Ohio.
About the Journal
Telemedicine and e-Health is an official journal of the American Telemedicine Association, the Canadian Telehealth Forum of COACH, and the International Society for Telemedicine & eHealth. Co-edited by Ronald C. Merrell, M.D., Professor Emeritus, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, and Charles Doarn, MBA. Telemedicine and e-Health is the leading international, peer-reviewed journal combining medicine, telecommunications, and information technology. Published monthly in print and online, the Journal covers telemedicine and telehealth applications that are playing an increasingly important role in health care and provides tools that are indispensable for home health care, remote patient monitoring, and disease management. It encompasses not only rural health and battlefield care, but nursing homes, assisted living facilities, and maritime and aviation applications. A sample table of contents and free issue may be viewed online on the Telemedicine and e-Health website.
About the Publisher
Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers is a privately held, fully integrated media company known for establishing authoritative peer-reviewed journals in many promising areas of science and biomedical research, including Population Health Management, Games for Health Journal, and Journal of Laparoendoscopic Surgery and Advanced Surgical Techniques. Its biotechnology trade magazine, GEN (Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News), was the first in its field and is today the industry’s most widely read publication worldwide. A complete list of the firm’s 80 journals, books, and newsmagazines is available on the Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers website.