Loading...Loading...April 23, 2024
The pandemic pushed virtual health care resources to the mainstream as a matter of necessity. But telehealth visits for mental health and substance use remain very popular in our post-pandemic world. Research from the Journal of the American Medical Association showed a rapid growth in telehealth services for mental health care, from 39.4% in 2019 to 88.1% in 2022.
The convenience of seeing a provider virtually—via phone, video or text chat—has proven to be an attractive feature for many patients and clinicians. “Virtual care is often more affordable and accessible to our members compared to in-person care,” said Dr. Mike Franz, executive medical director of behavioral health at Regence. “As a society, we’re still fighting the stigma associated with receiving behavioral health care, and the more barriers we can remove from care, the better.”
After a five-year study of numerous national telehealth therapy providers, The New York Times Wirecutter team recently recommended both MDLIVE and Doctor On Demand for online mental health therapy. Most of our employer groups have access to one of these providers for virtual care. Both offer mental health support and other nonemergency medical care.
Your employees may also have access to other specialized apps for treatment of mental health and substance use disorders, including Talkspace, NOCD and Charlie Health. Research from one such provider found that 50% of virtual care patients reported a decrease in depression and 57% reported a decrease in anxiety. In addition, patients missed 50% fewer work hours, and productivity increased by 36%.
Employees should sign in to their account on regence.com to see all of their in-network virtual treatment options.
MDLIVE and Doctor On Demand are separate companies that provide telehealth services. Talkspace is a separate company that provides mental health telehealth services.