Telepsychiatry services will soon be an option for patients at Mercy Medical Center-Centerville (Iowa), according to Daily Iowegian.
The hospital is contracting with Integrated Telehealth Partners, a Des Moines, Iowa-based company that provides telehealth to hospitals around the state. Funding for the initiative will come from the South Central Behavioral Health Region, an agency that pools property taxes from four counties to provide mental health services in the region.
The proposal denotes a base cost of roughly $21,000 per year, which includes four telepsychiatry visits per month. Any visit after that would add an additional $450 onto the estimate.
According to Jay Ricke, director of business development at Integrated Telehealth Partners, the average wait time for an appointment is about 50 minutes. After a patient is seen by a psychiatrist on the platform, hospitals are provided with a report that indicates whether inpatient or outpatient services are being recommended. The company also assists in placing patients in a mental health facility on behalf of the hospital.
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