{"id":418,"date":"2017-05-19T23:45:45","date_gmt":"2017-05-19T23:45:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/54.186.73.48\/?p=418"},"modified":"2017-05-19T23:45:45","modified_gmt":"2017-05-19T23:45:45","slug":"telehealth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.soberonline.com\/?p=418","title":{"rendered":"What To Know About Telehealth"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Telehealth including teletherapy, telepsychology and telepsychiatry are new forms of health care and often serve as a component of a complete treatment care plan; it offers patients the opportunity to receive professional therapeutic assistance, advice over the phone, or guidance over a video session in an emergency when a face-to-face meeting is not available or possible.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">People have many responsibilities in their personal, social, home and professional lives; time, convenience and price are important considerations for people in most aspects of life. Telehealth is an affordable, convenient and easy-to-use service that can be utilized from the comfort of your home or any location of your choice. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It can be used to help treat depression, anxiety, stress, schizophrenia, diabetes management, health promotion for weight loss, smoking cessation, and substance abuse cessation.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">T<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">elehealth, or e-therapy, is simply another way of communicating and relating that can be just as powerful and effective as face-to-face interaction. In compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) standards, telehealth practices are evolving and have begun to gain prominence as a new way of relating to and treating patients. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Why Choose Telehealth Over Traditional Health Care Services<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There are many reasons why a person, especially a patient detoxing from substance abuse and dependency, might prefer or even require telehealth services over traditional in-person care. Here is a list of situations where traditional care might not be able to provide the quality of care that telehealth can offer:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Those with inflexible work hours<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Those with a physical disability or injury that limits their mobility<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Those with a mental disability that might limit their mobility<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Those with responsibilities that prevent you from leaving home often<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Inclement weather or natural disasters<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Those who cannot travel due to commuting issues<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Those who live in a rural or remote area with limited health services<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Those on a budget<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>How Teletherapy Works<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A healthcare professional will conduct the session remotely through a telephone or online through a HIPAA compliant video conferencing software similar to Skype with a headset to ensure privacy from a private and secure location. A telehealth session will typically last from 40 to 60 minutes and require that the patient has a computer with video and audio capability so that the patient and healthcare professional can see and hear each other. Telehealth sessions, such as teletherapy and telepsychology, are generally conducted in the same manner, and they progress nearly the same way as a traditional face-to-face session would. Any handouts or materials will be provided to you over a secure connection.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Before engaging in telehealth, a patient will undergo an initial assessment to determine whether telehealth is appropriate for each specific case and circumstance. Certain types of cases or diagnoses are not well suited for online therapy and may require more dynamic and intensive services, such as high-risk cases (e.g. someone who is at risk for self-harm or has suicidal ideation). Other serious factors include ensuring to provide other resources such as emergency contact information or services to the usually out-of-state or distant patient in case of a crisis, as well as ensuring that the patient&#8217;s privacy and confidentiality are adequately protected with a HIPAA compliant encryption system for all electronic transmissions and records.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Laws and Confidentiality<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Telehealth laws are relatively new and change often as telehealth becomes more prominent and preferable to many people with a variety of physical and mental health problems, including those detoxing in treatment and recovering from drugs and alcohol abuse and dependence. Health-care providers, as well as patients, are advised to keep up to date with your state legislature&#8217;s website for the latest state telehealth laws and regulations. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Teletherapy services are fully HIPAA compliant and confidential, no video sessions are recorded, archived or shared with anyone and your therapist will meet with you in a secure location. Insurance has yet to cover teletherapy, especially for those with independent practices that are not aligned with a major health provider.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In most states, health-care providers are required to be licensed both in their own state as well as in their clients&#8217; states. However, many states allow out-of-state-licensed psychologists to provide telehealth services for a short period of time \u2014 ranging from 10 to 30 days in a calendar year \u2014 under specified conditions with a guest license. Specific conditions include obtaining documentation and medical records with the established diagnosis or diagnoses, performing a mental and physical examination, diagnostic and laboratory testing as necessary \u2014 as well as discussing with the patient the diagnosis, evidence, the risks and benefits of various treatment options, and finally, providing appropriate follow-up care options for the patient in their state of residence that meets their specific requirements.<\/span><\/p>\n<div id=\"themify_builder_content-418\" data-postid=\"418\" class=\"themify_builder_content themify_builder_content-418 themify_builder themify_builder_front\">\n\n\t<\/div>\n<!-- \/themify_builder_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Telehealth including teletherapy, telepsychology and telepsychiatry are new forms of health care and often serve as a component of a complete treatment care plan; it offers patients the opportunity to receive professional therapeutic assistance, advice over the phone, or guidance over a video session in an emergency when a face-to-face meeting is not available or [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":441,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.soberonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.soberonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.soberonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.soberonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.soberonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=418"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.soberonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":439,"href":"https:\/\/www.soberonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418\/revisions\/439"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.soberonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/441"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.soberonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=418"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.soberonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=418"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.soberonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=418"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}