July 21, 2015

The July 2015 PASRR webinar "The State of Telemedicine in Mental and Behavioral Health" occurred on Tuesday, July 21st, at 1 PM EST (10 AM PST).

The webinar was presented by Latoya Thomas, who works with the American Telemedicine Association.

A PDF copy of the slides is available at the bottom of the page.

Synopsis of the Topic:

Telemedicine is getting increased attention from lawmakers, payers, health professionals and patients around the country. Policymakers and health care providers seek to reduce health care delivery problems, contain costs, improve care coordination, and alleviate provider shortages. Many state Medicaid plans are using telemedicine to achieve these goals particularly to enhance access to mental and behavioral health services.

According to experts, all mental health procedures that are delivered in-person can be delivered remotely via telemedicine. Medicaid plans are driving the momentum for telemedicine adoption to enhance access to care via telemedicine and develop innovative payment and delivery models. Patients and health care providers are benefitting from policy improvements to existing parity laws, expanded service coverage, and removed statutory and regulatory barriers. While there are some states with exemplary telemedicine models, lack of enforcement and general awareness have created challenges for some providers to fully participate.

This presentation will identify clinical applications of telemental and behavioral health and state Medicaid best practices for telemental and behavioral health, determine the opportunities for innovation with sound policy making, and outline effective approaches for statewide improvements.
Speaker:

Latoya Thomas

Latoya Thomas currently works with American Telemedicine Assocation (ATA) members, affiliates, and state officials on legislative and regulatory issues affecting the use and deployment of telehealth services. Prior to joining the ATA, Ms. Thomas worked as an Associate Director of Government Affairs for the National Association for Home Care and Hospice to advance the use of technologies within the home health care industry, and also to ensure equitable access to health information technologies for all involved in the care continuum. She served as Research and Communications Strategist for the National HIT Collaborative for the Underserved (NHIT) to promote their core message of using health IT as a tool to reduce health disparities, and improve patient engagement and access to care.

Acknowledgment of Commercial Support

There was no commercial support received for this CME activity.

Bibliographic Sources: Please see presentation slides

Copyright: All faculties in this activity have given their permission for publication.

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