Clinicians' Perceptions of Rapid Scale-up of Telehealth Services in Outpatient Mental Health Treatment

• Published in: Telemedicine journal and e-health Vol. 27; no. 12; p. 1399
• Main Authors: Sugarman, Dawn E, Horvitz, Lisa E, Greenfield, Shelly F, Busch, Alisa B
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 01-12-2021
• Subjects: COVID-19; Humans; Mental Health; Outpatients; Pandemics; SARS-CoV-2; Telemedicine; telemedicine; telepsychiatry; behavioral health; mental health; telehealth
• ISSN: 1556-3669
• DOI: 10.1089/tmj.2020.0481

Little is known about specialty mental health and/or substance use disorder (MH/SUD) clinicians' experiences transitioning from in-person to telehealth care, to treat a diagnostically diverse population during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Survey of outpatient MH/SUD clinicians (psychiatrists, nurse practitioners, psychologists, and licensed clinical social workers; N = 107) at a psychiatric hospital. Clinician satisfaction and experiences using telehealth across a variety of services (individual, group or family therapy, initial assessments, evaluation and management, and neuropsychological assessment) were assessed using a mixed-methods approach.
Across services, a majority agreed/strongly agreed that telehealth provided an opportunity to build rapport with patients (67-88%) and they could treat their patients' needs well (71-88%). The interest in continuing to use telehealth when in-person visits resume varied by type of service provided (50-71%). Group therapy and initial assessment were lowest (50% and 51%, respectively). Clinicians noted telehealth improved access to care for patients with logistical barriers, competing demands, mobility difficulties, and medical concerns; but was more challenging to care for patients with certain psychiatric characteristics (e.g., psychosis, paranoia, catatonia, high distractibility, and avoidance), high symptom severity, or who needed to improve social skills. Telehealth influenced the therapeutic process (e.g., observations of family dynamic, increased patient/clinician therapeutic alliance).
MH/SUD clinicians who quickly transitioned to telehealth care during the pandemic were largely satisfied with telehealth, but also identified challenges related to specific patient characteristics, or types of MH/SUD services. These observations warrant additional study to better delineate the role for an expanded use of telehealth postpandemic.