Changes in telepsychiatry regulations during the COVID-19 pandemic: 17 countries and regions' approaches to an evolving healthcare landscape.

Journal: Psychological medicine

Volume: 52

Issue: 13

Year of Publication: 2022

Affiliated Institutions:  Department of Neuropsychiatry, Keio University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan. Virtual Mental Health and Outreach, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, ON, Canada. Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK. Mental Health, Northern California Veterans Administration Health Care System, Mather, CA, USA. Department of Psychiatry, The Zucker Hillside Hospital, Glen Oaks, NY, USA. Department of Psychiatry, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA. Department of Psychiatry, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Australia. Psychoses Unit, Ambulatório de Psiquiatria Dra. Jandira Masur, São Paulo-SP, Brazil. Unit of Psychiatry, Institute of Translational Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Macau, Macau Special Administrative Region, China. Psychosis Research Unit, Aarhus University Hospital - Psychiatry, Aarhus, Denmark. Shezlong, Inc., Cairo, Egypt. Department of Psychiatry, Grant Government Medical College, Mumbai, India. Department of Psychiatry, Pushpagiri Institute of Medical Sciences, Tiruvalla, India. Department of Neuroscience, University of Padua, Padua, Italy. Department of Internal Medicine and Geriatrics, University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy. Department of Psychiatry, Stellenbosch University, Cape Town, South Africa. Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Institute of Psychiatry and Mental Health, Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañón School of Medicine, Universidad Complutense, Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria Gregorio Marañón (IiSGM), CIBERSAM, Madrid, Spain. An Nan Hospital, China Medical University, Tainan, Taiwan. Department of Psychology, Istanbul Gelişim University, Istanbul, Turkey. Department of Psychiatry, University of California Davis, Sacramento, CA, USA.

Abstract summary 

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the use of telemedicine as a way to reduce COVID-19 infections was noted and consequently deregulated. However, the degree of telemedicine regulation varies from country to country, which may alter the widespread use of telemedicine. This study aimed to clarify the telepsychiatry regulations for each collaborating country/region before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.We used snowball sampling within a global network of international telepsychiatry experts. Thirty collaborators from 17 different countries/regions responded to a questionnaire on barriers to the use and implementation of telepsychiatric care, including policy factors such as regulations and reimbursement at the end of 2019 and as of May 2020.Thirteen of 17 regions reported a relaxation of regulations due to the pandemic; consequently, all regions surveyed stated that telepsychiatry was now possible within their public healthcare systems. In some regions, restrictions on prescription medications allowed via telepsychiatry were eased, but in 11 of the 17 regions, there were still restrictions on prescribing medications via telepsychiatry. Lower insurance reimbursement amounts for telepsychiatry consultations in-person consultations were reevaluated in four regions, and consequently, in 15 regions telepsychiatry services were reimbursed at the same rate (or higher) than in-person consultations during the COVID-19 pandemic.Our results confirm that, due to COVID-19, the majority of countries surveyed are altering telemedicine regulations that had previously restricted the spread of telemedicine. These findings provide information that could guide future policy and regulatory decisions, which facilitate greater scale and spread of telepsychiatry globally.

Authors & Co-authors:  Kinoshita Shotaro S Cortright Kelley K Crawford Allison A Mizuno Yuya Y Yoshida Kazunari K Hilty Donald D Guinart Daniel D Torous John J Correll Christoph U CU Castle David J DJ Rocha Deyvis D Yang Yuan Y Xiang Yu-Tao YT Kølbæk Pernille P Dines David D ElShami Mohammad M Jain Prakhar P Kallivayalil Roy R Solmi Marco M Favaro Angela A Veronese Nicola N Seedat Soraya S Shin Sangho S Salazar de Pablo Gonzalo G Chang Chun-Hung CH Su Kuan-Pin KP Karas Hakan H Kane John M JM Yellowlees Peter P Kishimoto Taishiro T

Study Outcome 

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Statistics
Citations :  Basit, S. A., Mathews, N., & Kunik, M. E. (2020). Telemedicine interventions for medication adherence in mental illness: A systematic review. General Hospital Psychiatry, 62, 28–36. doi: 10.1016/j.genhosppsych.2019.11.004
Authors :  30
Identifiers
Doi : 10.1017/S0033291720004584
SSN : 1469-8978
Study Population
Male,Female
Mesh Terms
Humans
Other Terms
COVID-19;government regulation;health insurance reimbursement;telemedicine;telepsychiatry
Study Design
Cross Sectional Study
Study Approach
Country of Study
Publication Country
England