Telemedicine got a tremendous boost during Covid when Americans were isolating in their homes and many doctors were afraid to see patients face-to-face. In addition, many people were stressed from social isolation with kids attending schools online while parents tried to work from home. As a result, mental health services also went online. Experts are…
Category: Telemedicine
Mental Telehealth Counseling for Diverse Communities
Americans have collectively experienced a mental health crisis due to Covid. Furthermore, some communities have more unmet mental health needs than others. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation:
The COVID-19 pandemic has taken a toll on the nation’s mental health, with 3 in 10 adults in the U.S. reporting symptoms consistent with depression or anxiety disorder since April 2020. Over 20% of adults reporting poor mental health also report not receiving counseling or therapy during the pandemic. Telehealth has played a particularly significant role in meeting the need for mental health services. Thus far into the pandemic, some private payers have improved coverage for mental health and substance use, removing pre-pandemic restrictions on coverage for these services via telehealth.
The Downside of Telemedicine: Tele-Fraud
The Justice Department announced criminal charges in a $1.2 billion telemedicine fraud scheme committed by numerous individuals across the United States. In some cases the owners of clinical labs are accused of paying kickbacks to marketers, who in turn paid bribes to telemedicine companies in return for physician orders.
Friday Links
- Scott Sumner on the FDA’s reversal – allowing pharmacists to prescribe the Pfizer Covid vaccine: Is 350 people dying every day the reason the government finally saw the light?
- A pocket-sized, smartphone-directed ultrasound could become as “ubiquitous as the stethoscope.”
- Are we in danger of losing control of Monkeypox?
- During the US Open, airplanes were diverted from the match’s airspace and flew over other neighborhoods. The result: more insomnia, more cardiovascular disease, and more substance abuse and mental health emergencies. But great tennis!
- Covid hasn’t gone away: There were many more new COVID infections in the past week in the US than in the corresponding week 1 year ago and 2 years ago.
- Telemedicine surged during the pandemic:
Weekly telemedicine visits for one insurer increased from a mean of 773 in 2020 prior to stay-at-home orders to 45,632 in subsequent weeks. Patients who were older, had existing chronic conditions, were male, or resided in predominantly non-Hispanic Black or African American Census tracts showed increased telemedicine utilization in later weeks of the pandemic.