In 2022, 23% of adults in the United States received some form of mental health treatment. While this number continues to grow, the number of providers who are licensed to prescribe has been decreasing at a rapid rate, leaving patients without timely access to their medications. This can spell significant danger for people on antidepressants, SSRIs, mood stabilizers, or other antipsychotics.
Healthcare organizations can implement telepsychiatric support services to enhance patient care, ensure medication safety, and reduce the operational burden on medical staff. This article outlines practical steps and best practices for safely and effectively offering online mental health medications.
Table of Contents
The Safety Foundations Healthcare Organizations Must Have in Place
To offer online mental health medications, healthcare organizations need to meet certain criteria to ensure compliance with regulations and patient safety. Take a closer look at the basic requirements for online prescriptions.
1. Credentialing, Licensing, & Quality Assurance
- Providers must be board-certified and licensed in the states where patients receive care.
- Organizations should monitor provider performance to ensure patients receive consistent, high-quality care.
- Providers should have experience managing medications for mental health conditions, including controlled substances when appropriate
2. Secure Technology & HIPAA Compliance
- Telehealth platforms must offer encrypted, HIPAA-compliant video and e-prescribing tools.
- Patient records must be securely integrated with EHR systems, with clear documentation of all prescriptions and follow-ups.
- Regular audits and compliance checks ensure ongoing adherence to privacy and security regulations
3. Clinical Oversight & Best Practices
- Standardized patient assessments and personalized treatment plans are essential.
- Follow-up protocols should include regular check-ins and medication history reviews.
- Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs (PDMPs) must be checked before prescribing controlled substances and reviewed periodically.
Step-by-Step Implementation Tips
To offer online psychiatric medications effectively, health organizations should follow a structured workflow:
1. Patient Intake & Assessment
The first step is to gather an accurate understanding of each patient’s mental health needs. Proper intake ensures telepsychiatrists have the full clinical context before prescribing medications.
- Collect comprehensive medical and psychiatric history, including previous medications, diagnoses, and treatment responses.
- Integrate prior EHR data to prevent gaps in care and ensure continuity with any on-site providers.
- Identify high-risk patients for closer monitoring, including those with a history of suicide attempts, severe psychiatric disorders, or controlled substance use.
2. Telepsychiatry Session & Prescription
Integrating telepsychiatry into existing workflows requires careful coordination with on-site staff and technology systems. This step ensures virtual providers can operate seamlessly alongside your current clinical team.
- Conduct secure, HIPAA-compliant virtual evaluations using your telepsychiatry platform.
- Review any relevant lab or therapy notes before prescribing controlled substances.
- Create patient expectations for any labs or other actions they need to take; make sure they understand the length of the prescription and whether there are any refills. Make sure this is communicated to site staff for follow up scheduling purposes.
- Document all prescriptions clearly within your integrated EHR, ensuring on-site clinicians have real-time access to treatment information. Make sure prescriptions list associated diagnosis and have DEA information for the state the clinic is in as well as having the clinical address as prescribing location.
- Coordinate scheduling so virtual sessions align with in-person therapy or follow-ups, reducing disruption to patient care.
3. Pharmacy Coordination & Medication Delivery
After a prescription is issued, reliable medication access and safety protocols are essential for patient adherence and risk management.
- Implement an e-prescribing application if not already used and register with state prescription monitoring programs
- Verify compatibility of your e-prescribing with local or mail-order pharmacies to ensure timely medication delivery.
- Implement verification procedures to prevent errors, diversion, or unauthorized access to controlled substances.
- Use telepsychiatry platform tools to track fulfillment and confirm patients receive their medications.
4. Follow-Up & Monitoring
Ongoing monitoring ensures patients respond safely and effectively to their medications. Telepsychiatry allows follow-ups to occur without requiring in-person visits, improving access and adherence.
- Schedule regular virtual follow-ups to assess efficacy, side effects, and adherence.
- Adjust treatment plans as needed based on clinical response and patient feedback.
- Maintain detailed records within the EHR to ensure continuity of care, compliance, and proper documentation for audits.
5. Staff Training & Operational Integration
For telepsychiatry to be effective, your on-site staff must understand how virtual providers fit into day-to-day operations. Clear workflows reduce errors and support smooth collaboration.
- Train clinicians and administrative staff on telepsychiatry protocols, including session scheduling, documentation, and emergency escalation.
- Establish protocols for technical failures, power outages, or connectivity issues to maintain continuity of care.
- Develop processes for handling patient non-adherence, medication concerns, or urgent psychiatric issues in coordination with virtual providers.
3 Common Risks in Virtual Mental Health Care – and How to Avoid Them
- Misdiagnosis: One of the concerns that some providers have when it comes to online mental health medication prescribing is the risk of a misdiagnosis.
- Mitigation: To avoid this, it’s important to have all of the patient’s EHRs and to conduct thorough initial assessments. Regular follow-up sessions are also vital, allowing psychiatrists to gauge whether the treatment options they’ve offered are having a positive effect.
- Medication Diversion: This is particularly a concern when dealing with controlled substances, including stimulants or benzodiazepines.
- Mitigation: Implement controlled e-prescriptions, limited refill windows, and detailed tracking of all medication requests. Periodically audit prescription records. Register with state prescription monitoring programs and review them before any new prescriptions are written.
- Technical Difficulties: This concern is a side effect of working with technology.
- Mitigation: Your team likely already has failsafes in place, but if not, create a plan. Have backup internet connections, power sources, and redundant communication methods. Train staff to handle interruptions and ensure continuity of care.
How FasPsych’s Telepsychiatry Platform Mitigates Risk
Giving patients safe access to online mental health prescriptions starts with secure telepsychiatry platforms like FasPsych. With our network, you can offer your patients comprehensive services while easing the burden on your staff.
Immediate Access to Licensed Prescribers
We connect organizations to board-certified mental health professionals within seconds. Because we’re a nationwide provider with access to professionals with diverse specialties, we can find the right mental health specialist for your unique organization.
With FasPsych, we’re committed to finding the best team to support your patients and streamline operations. You’ll get access to a network of qualified:
- Psychiatrists
- PMHNPs
- NPs
- And more – just ask
HIPAA-Compliant Infrastructure
To protect patients as well as your organization, our team offers HIPAA-compliant services. We use some of the most trusted and advanced technology to ensure that patient data is secure. At the same time, we provide a smooth integration process with your existing platforms.
To help your organization and patients make the most out of our services, we provide an array of built-in tools for documentation, assessments, and follow-ups as well.
Proven Clinical Excellence
We carefully and thoroughly vet each of our providers. They go through a rigorous background check and verification of their credentials to ascertain that they offer the quality care that our partners deserve.
Psychiatry treatment plans can be challenging to implement, so we offer support for complex cases that on-site teams may be struggling to manage. This can help both the on-site providers and the patients.
At FasPsych, we pride ourselves on being able to offer reliable coverage for primary care clinics, hospitals, crisis centers, and community health programs like FQHCs, CCBHCs, CMHCs, RHCs, and more.
Operational & Administrative Benefits
Our services can help your organization effectively reduce staffing shortages. This is important for your remaining staff, who could be overworked and close to burning out. Our low overhead when compared to hiring in-house psychiatrists makes us the right choice if you’re worried about your budget, too.
How Healthcare Organizations Can Get Started
To start offering online mental health medication services at your health organization:
- Assessment: We offer a complementary review to assess how we can best help your organization.
- Provider Matching: We then match you with qualified mental health provider(s) who can offer the support your care team needs.
- Integration: Our HIPAA-compliant platform can easily integrate with most existing EHR systems and software. Your providers will simply log into the portal whenever they are ready to request a service or facilitate a session.
- Launch: Once everything is in place, we’ll host a test run and training session with your team. Then, you’ll be ready to work with your selected virtual team when and where you need them.
Frequently Asked Questions About Online Mental Health Medications
Virtual providers can handle psychiatric evaluations, ongoing medication management, and follow-ups, allowing on-site staff to focus on other clinical responsibilities. Integration with your EHR ensures seamless collaboration, with virtual providers documenting care in real-time and communicating directly with your on-site clinicians when adjustments to treatment plans are needed.
When implemented properly, telepsychiatry does not increase the risk of drug diversion. Secure e-prescribing, PDMP checks, limited refill protocols, and detailed documentation all help mitigate diversion risks. Telepsychiatry platforms also provide tools for tracking prescriptions, monitoring adherence, and coordinating with on-site staff or pharmacies to ensure medications are safely administered, particularly for controlled substances.
Telepsychiatry: Taking Healthcare to the Next Level
Offering safe, effective online mental health medication improves patient outcomes while alleviating staffing burdens. By following structured workflows, implementing risk mitigation strategies, and leveraging secure telepsychiatry platforms, healthcare organizations can ensure patients receive timely, compliant, and high-quality psychiatric care.
Schedule a no-obligation, no-cost consultation with FasPsych to explore how virtual mental health services can enhance your organization’s care delivery.