Fact Sheet: Telemental Health in the Department of Veterans Affairs Summary: Since fiscal year (FY) 2003, VHA has provided Veterans with access to mental health services through more than 1,450,000 Telemental Health encounters. Telemental Health is defined as the use of information and telecommunication technologies to deliver mental health services when the provider and the Veteran are separated by geographical distance. As a result of increased access to mental health services, psychiatric hospitalizations decreased by over 26% in more than 250,000 new Telemental Health Veteran patients between FY 2006-2013 within an average of 6 months. FY 2014: During FY 2014 alone VA delivered over 335,000 Telemental Health consultations to more than 108,000 Veteran, a 24-fold increase in annual Telemental Health encounters since FY 2003. While historically most Telemental Health was delivered from a medical center facility to a community based out-patient clinic (CBOC), in FY 2014, approximately 2,000 Veterans gained new access to mental health services using video directly from their homes. Currently in VHA, Telemenatl Health services are delivered by providers from multiple mental health professionals, to treat nearly all diagnoses, employing most all treatment modalities (e.g. individual psychotherapies, psychopharmacology management, group and family psychothereapies) at multiple sites of care (e.g. VA Medical Center (VAMC), CBOC, Veteran’s homes and non-VA sites). National Telemental Health Center: Beginning in FY 2010 VA established the National Telemental Health Center (NTMHC), expanding beyond the typical facility hub and CBOC spoke model to a nation-wide model that provides Veteran access to clinical experts throughout the country. As of the end of FY 2014, the NTMHC center has provided access to over 2,700 Veterans to more than 8,600 national expert consultations at 88 sites that were in all 21 VISNs and 28 states. The NTMHC clinical national experts (in affective, psychotic, anxiety, post traumatic stress, and substance use disorders) are currently located at the Boston VAMC/Harvard; VA Connecticut Healthcare System/Yale; Philadelphia VAMC/University of Pennsylvania; VA Providence/Brown; and San Diego VAMC and University of California San Diego. Telemental Health into the Home: In FY 2014, VHA provided approximately 9,000 Veterans with access to care using home telehealth devices and video directly into their homes. High Veteran Patient Satisfaction Scores for Telehealth: In FY 2014, Veteran satisfaction scores were 94% for clinical videoconferencing telehealth and 88% for home teleheatlh services.
Posted on: Fri, 05 Dec 2014 12:47:24 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015