Chris Gallagher, M.D., CEO of Access TeleCare discusses telePsychiatry’s impact on the behavioral health crisis in an article published by the American Telemedicine Association:
The COVID-19 pandemic created not just a global public health crisis but a behavioral health crisis as well, particularly for children and adolescents. Exponential growth in the need for behavioral health care has collided with the longstanding shortage of behavioral health care providers and resources to create a national emergency.
Resolving this emergency will take time, planning, and a significant investment of resources to train more behavioral health professionals, create additional inpatient and step-down psychiatric capacity, and address the geographic disparities in access to care. This is time that many children and adolescents don’t have.
Telepsychiatry Can Improve Mental Health for Children
But, there is hope. Telepsychiatry for hospitals’ emergency departments and inpatient units has proven itself to be invaluable in bringing psychiatric expertise to patients in need, and it can be implemented today. Read more about the Access TeleCare process.
Learn more about how telePsychiatry can bring psychiatric expertise to patients in need here.
