Telemedicine experienced a massive surge in interest when the pandemic hit in 2020. Mental healthcare — where the demand in services has long been higher than the supply of available appointments — has experienced an uptick in demand. Across the country, over 90% of mental health visits were occurring virtually. The increase in demand forced many organizations to face major challenges to scale their ability to provide these virtual services. Among these challenges is staffing with top-notch psychiatrists and other mental healthcare providers.
AMHC Successfully Uses Telemedicine during COVID-19
Community Mental Health Centers (CMHCs) and Community Health Clinics (CHCs) across the U.S. reported a drop in the number of client visits during quarantine. However, Aroostook Mental Health Center (AMHC) successfully ramped up its use of telemedicine to increase the number of its client visits by 20%.
While AMHC continued to offer in-clinic appointments, their early adoption of telehealth enabled them to scale their existing practice to more effectively provide patient care. By partnering with Iris Telehealth, a telepsychiatry company that carefully matches providers to the clinics and hospitals that need them, AMHC was able to also offer virtual mental health services to patients through HIPAA-compliant video conferencing and telephone calls. AMHC’s use of telepsychiatry solved for the challenges in recruiting an onsite provider willing to relocate to a more rural area.
To learn more about how AMHC used telemedicine to improve access to mental healthcare, you can read the original article here. If you’d like learn more about partnering with Iris to improve access to mental healthcare in your community, let us know in the form below!
