A hospital in a region with a shortage of psychiatric clinicians faced a familiar problem: patients with behavioral health needs were arriving at the hospital, but it lacked on-site psychiatric expertise to support their care. Some patients were admitted for medical conditions with psychiatric comorbidities. Others required primarily psychiatric treatment but could not be placed in a psychiatric facility because beds were unavailable for miles.
Rather than wait for an on-site recruitment solution, the hospital partnered with Access TeleCare to bring psychiatric specialists to the bedside through telemedicine. Access TeleCare teleBehavioral Health clinicians, including psychiatrists and psychiatric mental health nurse practitioners, provide on-demand consultation, diagnose psychiatric conditions, guide medication management, and work directly with the hospital’s medical and surgical teams as part of the patient’s multidisciplinary care team for patients with co-morbid conditions.
The model gives hospital clinicians real-time access to psychiatric expertise without requiring local specialist availability. Patients receive coordinated specialty behavioral healthcare at their local hospital, while on-site teams have the clinical support needed to manage complex psychiatric needs more confidently and comprehensively.
