Emergency Departments
Each year, a mental health or substance use disorder accounts for almost 19 million emergency department visits in the U.S. Hospital emergency rooms routinely experience the impossible position of not having enough staff to provide psychiatric services and not being able to move the patient until those services are provided. If an emergency room staff person is required to provide one-to-one monitoring of a patient waiting for psychiatric services, the cost and disruption to the emergency room are greatly increased.
A recent study of 17 different emergency departments around the U.S. showed that most departments feel they lack the resources necessary to provide proper psychiatric care, as their department is designed and equipped to respond to acute general medical emergencies. The study also identified telemed as the first strategy to manage this challenge.
Telepsychiatry Provides On-Demand Diagnoses
Telepsychiatry provides rapid access to a psychiatrist or psychiatric APRN via video. Fast, reliable access to these psychiatric services frees up emergency department staff to treat other admissions more effectively, while still ensuring the psychiatric patient receives the most clinically appropriate care.
Around 31% of emergency department patients are hospitalized after psychiatric consultation. By expanding ER services to provide virtual access to psychiatric care, staff in your hospital emergency department are better able to quickly disposition the patient or to develop a plan with the insurance company to discharge the patient to the appropriate level of care.
Telepsychiatry services can significantly benefit emergency departments by helping to:
- Cut down on wait times for all patients by more efficiently transitioning patients with psychiatric service needs out of the emergency department
- Lower costs associated with ancillary staff needed to provide one-to-one supervision of patients who are disruptive due to psychiatric symptoms
- Reduce risk management issues and costs associated with undertrained medical staff dispositioning patients with psychiatric service needs
- Decrease the cost of uncompensated care thanks to an increased ability to quickly discharge psychiatric patients
- Improve emergency room staff morale as they will no longer be expected to care for patients who they are undertrained to serve
Efficient Telemed Services with FasPsych
Our interactive telemed service connects telepsychiatry practitioners with patients to provide on-demand mental health care. When you work with FasPsych, we provide setup and ongoing support for you, which will include:
- Provide access to qualified, appropriately licensed psychiatrists, APRNs, and other psychiatric professionals.
- Arrange for our prescribing providers to use your electronic medical records and e-prescribing application.
- Coordinate with you to select the best schedule for your needs—choose full or part-time staff.
When you partner with FasPsych to provide telepsychiatric services for your emergency department, you can count on professional, reliable service from our entire team. Contact us today.