How e-Mental Health Adds to Traditional Outpatient and Newer Models of Integrated Care for Patients, Providers, and Systems

Contemporary health care promotes a patient-centered approach, integrates health/mental health care, emphasizes interdisciplinary teamwork, and adopts innovations such as communications technology. Telemedicine, including e-Mental Health (eMH), e.g., telepsychiatry, adds versatility to service delivery by improving access to care, leveraging expertise of key disciplines to the point-of-service, and disseminating education. Key disciplines in integrated care that provide mental health services into primary care are the psychiatrist, mid-level professionals, and nurses. These clinicians provide clinical, administrative, and care coordination expertise or oversight. A more recent addition to this integrated team is the care navigator who essentially coordinates care across all other team members and the patients. Overall, telemedicine, cross-training, stepped care roles, and use of clinically “versatile” clinicians – all of these help to fill “holes” in services for patients. Evidence-based treatment becomes more accessible, better disseminated, and in “real time” with use of health technologies. Best practices for clinical care, education, and program development are needed for integrated care and e-health.