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Brief Reports
Published Online: 9 August 2023

Trends in Telepsychiatry and In-Person Psychiatric Care for Depression in an Academic Health System, 2017–2022

Catherine K. Ettman, Ph.D. [email protected], Carly L. Brantner, M.S., Michael Albert, M.D., Fernando S. Goes, M.D., Ramin Mojtabai, M.D., Ph.D., Stanislav Spivak, M.D., Elizabeth A. Stuart, Ph.D., and Peter P. Zandi, Ph.D.Authors Info & Affiliations
Publication: Psychiatric Services
Volume 75, Number 2
https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ps.20230064
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Abstract

Objective:

The authors aimed to assess differences in appointment completion rates between telepsychiatry and in-person outpatient psychiatric care for patients with depression in an academic health system.

Methods:

Electronic health records of encounters for patients (ages ≥10) with a depression diagnosis and at least one scheduled outpatient psychiatric appointment (N=586,266 appointments; November 2017–October 2022) were assessed for appointment volume and completion of telepsychiatry versus in-person sessions.

Results:

Telepsychiatry became the dominant care modality after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, although the number of telepsychiatry and in-person appointments nearly converged by October 2022. Logistic regression showed that telepsychiatry appointments (July 2020–October 2022) were more likely (OR=1.30, 95% CI=1.27–1.34) to be completed than in-person appointments.

Conclusions:

Telepsychiatry appointments were less likely to be canceled or missed than in-person appointments, suggesting that telepsychiatry improved efficiency and continuity of care. As in-person operations resume following the pandemic, maintaining telepsychiatry services may optimize hospital-level and patient outcomes.

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Information & Authors

Information

Published In

Go to Psychiatric Services
Go to Psychiatric Services
Psychiatric Services
Volume 75 • Number 2 • February 01, 2024
Pages: 178 - 181
PubMed: 37554006

History

Received: 12 February 2023
Revision received: 15 May 2023
Accepted: 14 June 2023
Published online: 9 August 2023
Published in print: February 01, 2024

Keywords

  1. Telemedicine
  2. Mental health
  3. psychiatry
  4. health care quality/access/evaluation
  5. electronic health records
  6. COVID-19

Authors

Details

Catherine K. Ettman, Ph.D. [email protected]
Department of Mental Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore (Ettman, Brantner, Goes, Mojtabai, Stuart); Department of Medicine (Albert) and Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences (Goes, Spivak, Zandi), Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore.
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Carly L. Brantner, M.S.
Department of Mental Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore (Ettman, Brantner, Goes, Mojtabai, Stuart); Department of Medicine (Albert) and Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences (Goes, Spivak, Zandi), Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore.
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Michael Albert, M.D.
Department of Mental Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore (Ettman, Brantner, Goes, Mojtabai, Stuart); Department of Medicine (Albert) and Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences (Goes, Spivak, Zandi), Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore.
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Fernando S. Goes, M.D.
Department of Mental Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore (Ettman, Brantner, Goes, Mojtabai, Stuart); Department of Medicine (Albert) and Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences (Goes, Spivak, Zandi), Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore.
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Ramin Mojtabai, M.D., Ph.D.
Department of Mental Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore (Ettman, Brantner, Goes, Mojtabai, Stuart); Department of Medicine (Albert) and Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences (Goes, Spivak, Zandi), Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore.
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Stanislav Spivak, M.D.
Department of Mental Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore (Ettman, Brantner, Goes, Mojtabai, Stuart); Department of Medicine (Albert) and Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences (Goes, Spivak, Zandi), Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore.
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Elizabeth A. Stuart, Ph.D.
Department of Mental Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore (Ettman, Brantner, Goes, Mojtabai, Stuart); Department of Medicine (Albert) and Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences (Goes, Spivak, Zandi), Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore.
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Peter P. Zandi, Ph.D.
Department of Mental Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore (Ettman, Brantner, Goes, Mojtabai, Stuart); Department of Medicine (Albert) and Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences (Goes, Spivak, Zandi), Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore.
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Notes

Send correspondence to Dr. Ettman ([email protected]).
Parts of this work were presented at the Society for Epidemiologic Research conference, Portland, Oregon, June 13–16, 2023, and at the AcademyHealth Annual Research Meeting, Seattle, June 25–27, 2023.

Competing Interests

Dr. Mojtabai reports having received royalties from UpToDate and Medscape and providing expert consultation regarding social media litigation on behalf of the plaintiffs. The other authors report no financial relationships with commercial interests.

Funding Information

This work was funded by NIMH grant R01-MH-126856 (to Dr. Stuart), by Johns Hopkins School of Medicine inHealth (to Dr. Zandi), by a gift from Meta (to Dr. Stuart for Dr. Ettman’s time), and by National Institute on Aging grant T32-AG-000247 (for Ms. Brantner; principal investigator: Karen Bandeen-Roche, Ph.D.).The content of this report is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH.

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