In New York state, a new telehealth program is allowing people with developmental disabilities to receive medical and mental health care from the comfort of their own home. These virtual appointments in psychiatry started this fall through Premier HealthCare, which is part of YAI, a provider of housing and other services for people who have a disability, whether it is developmental or intellectual. By instituting this telehealth program, its developers hope to ease the experience of visiting a doctor, which can often be stressful mentally and physically for an adult or child with a disability.
As about 650 million people around the world live with a disability, making up about 10% of the global population, this accessible program has the potential to help many people. For now, it is limited to six residential homes in New York state.
While state law still requires patients in these homes to see a doctor in person to make an initial diagnosis, they can now video-chat with health care providers for follow-up therapy and medication management. A direct service provider in the home helps patients log on to the telehealth system through a computer. Medpod, the software company, collects data regarding the appointment and securely stores the information.
According to Premier’s executive director, Hope Levy, the flexibility of these appointments will help better ensure patients regularly see their doctors.
“They have a hard time making appointments, they miss appointments. (Telehealth) allows for consistency and continuity of care,” said Levy.
As Down syndrome awareness and awareness of other developmental disabilities spread throughout the country, so does awareness of the need for these types of services. A survey Medpod conducted showed that caregivers for 161 people living in group homes said that 93% of them preferred the virtual appointments and experienced reduced anxiety because of them. This decrease in anxiety is likely a result of the ability to schedule an appointment in a more familiar and comfortable environment, rather than in the sterility of a doctor’s office.
According to Elizabeth Ducat, a psychiatric nurse practitioner at Premier, this comfort is the main advantage of telehealth. She says that the patients she sees via video chat are more relaxed than patients in the clinic setting. Seeing them in their usual environment also gives her an enhanced understanding of their baseline behavior.
Another advantage of the telehealth program is the ability to schedule appointments outside of typical office hours. When doctor appointments can better fit in a patient’s routine, it benefits the patient as well as their caregivers. Remote appointments are also typically less expensive than office visits.
Telehealth services specifically for people with disabilities are not widely available yet, but some clinics are now offering the service to children with autism. In regard to New York’s new program, Levy says that the plan is to offer virtual primary care and neurology appointments in the next couple of months. A nurse in residence will take the patient’s vital signs and perform other non-invasive tests in the clinic. This will allow for a greater range of care while ensuring the patient is completely comfortable.