Sharing – Online therapy having its moment, bringing insights on how to expand mental health services going forward

Nicholas makes a good point about something that does need to be updated to allow for remote therapy.

All this allows a continuity of care for clients that before was impossible; there is, however, a caveat. Because of the coronavirus, some of my clients at USF who live out-of-state have moved back home. That means, legally, I can no longer serve them. Even though they are still USF students, my license is valid only in Florida.

For telehealth to work effectively, our national system of licensing and regulation law needs to adapt.

Although the federal government temporarily halted HIPAA regulations to promote telehealth during this time, not all states are allowing out-of-state practice. The coronavirus may not be here forever, but spring break and Christmas holidays always will. We need seamless telehealth across state lines.

We know we have areas of the country where getting mental health treatment is almost impossible. My hope is that with so many clients and therapists doing therapy virtually right now, we could get past some of the hangups about it that Nicholas talks about below, but we also need to make sure we don’t have laws and regulations that are doing more harm than good, preventing people who need help from getting it.

Read the rest of the article as well, if you’re interested in seeing treatment be available no matter where you are.

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2020-05-online-therapy-moment-insights-mental.html