Use of Direct-to-Consumer Telemedicine to Access Mental Health Services.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic has contributed to growing demand for mental health services, but patients face significant barriers to accessing care. Direct-to-consumer(DTC) telemedicine has been proposed as one way to increase access, yet little is known about its pre-pandemic use for mental healthcare.

Objective

To characterize patients, providers, and their use of a large nationwide DTC telemedicine platform for mental healthcare.

Design

Retrospective cross-sectional study.

Setting

Mental health encounters conducted on the American Well DTC telemedicine platform from 2016 to 2018.

Participants

Patients and physicians.

Main measures

Patient measures included demographics, insurance report, and number of visits. Provider charac

SUBMITTER: Hohman JA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8799413 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature