North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory announced the state will invest $4 million in a two-year Statewide Telepsychiatry Program to increase access to mental health providers and decrease emergency department crowding.
Beginning in January 2014, the program will connect ED patients with mental health professionals via secure, real-time interactive audio and video technology. Patients can then be diagnosed and treated in real time from any location. The East Carolina University Center for Telepsychiatry in Greenville, N.C., will "develop a provider network and establish the needed technology infrastructure and guidelines for administering the program," according to the news release.
The program builds on ECU Center for Telepsychiatry and e-Behavioral Health, and the Albemarle Hospital Foundation Telepsychiatry Project. Initial results of the Albemarle project, which began in March 2011, show a reduction in the average length of stay for ED patients discharged to inpatient treatment from 48 hours to 22.5 hours. The initiative also reduced 30-day recidivism rates and involuntary commitments to inpatient psychiatric facilities, according to the release.
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