The telepsychiatry initiative connects psychiatrists and behavioral health providers to rural Texas hospital emergency rooms and departments via telemedicine, according to a March 1 news release.
Cynthia Jumper, MD, executive vice president for health policy and strategic initiatives at TTUHSC, started working with TORCH and hired a team of psychiatrists through the TTUHSC Division of Strategic Initiatives.
The partnership began in April 2024 with two hospitals, Knox City, Texas-based Knox County Hospital and Mount Pleasant, Texas-based Titus Regional Medical Center.
“Behavioral health is an issue,” Terry Scoggin, CEO of TRMC, said in the release. “It is an epidemic in rural areas across Texas and the United States. This program has made a huge difference, not only addressing the behavioral needs of our community, but also workplace violence and the stress of our employees, our team members, our doctors and everyone involved in northeast Texas.”
Around half of the patients seen through the Telepsychiatry Initiative do not need inpatient care, and are able to be treated as outpatients, which frees up employees and beds. Through telepsychiatry, the patients have access to a psychiatrist who can provide a diagnosis and make medication recommendations after a consultation with emergency department physicians.
Prior to the initiative, many patients experiencing acute psychotic events would become uncontrollable, violent and lash out at healthcare employees. Following the episode, many patients would ask what occurred or why they behaved in a certain way.
“If we can stop the psychosis with treatment by the psychiatrist and get the patients the right medications and doses, we can stop some of that violence,” Kathy Griffis, CNO at TRMC, said in the release. “We love this program for two reasons: One, it keeps our emergency department staff safer, and two, it helps the patients.”
TTUHSC, which built and developed a scheduling and telehealth platform, works with around 15 to 20 hospitals, and Dr. Jumper hopes to see an increase.
“Our primary job at TTUHSC is to look for gaps in care, especially in rural hospitals and to provide solutions and work with other people,” Dr. Jumper said. “Collaboratively, we, as Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, can’t come in and fix all the problems, but we can work collaboratively with whatever resources are in those rural areas. Then we can come in and be part of the solution.”
