PROVIDENCE – An increase in telehealth availability hasn’t translated to improved access to mental health services in rural communities, a new study by Brown University researchers has found.
The study, a joint effort by Brown’s School of Public Health, Harvard Medical School and McLean Hospital, analyzed Medicare billing records from 17,742 mental health providers throughout the U.S. from 2018 to 2023.
Safeguarding the Procurement Process: Oversight, Controls, and Internal Audit’s Impact
Vendor management and procurement integrity are among the most critical and vulnerable functions within the…
Learn More
Drawing from these records, the researchers found that specialists who most frequently use telehealth services treat fewer than 1 percentage point more patients in rural and underserved areas compared to specialists who rarely use these services.
Expanding a 20-mile radius from the provider, that figure jumps slightly, but remains at just 2.6 percentage points more in patients served among telehealth-heavy practices.
The findings surprised researchers, said study author and Brown research scientist Drew Wilcock.
“We had thought the dramatic shift from in-person care to telemedicine among mental health specialists would lead to them caring for substantially more patients in rural communities,” Wilcock said. “Unfortunately, we just don’t see it.”
Co-author and Brown professor Ateev Mehrotra, a professor of health services, said that while “the potential of telemedicine can’t be ignored,” the results highlight that “simply offering telemedicine will not address the barriers that many rural patients face in obtaining mental health care.”
Legislators also need to enact policy changes, he said.
“For telemedicine’s potential to be reached, we need policy interventions to address those barriers,” Mehrotra said. “Improving how we license physicians is a critical first step.”
Lead author and Harvard researcher Jacob Jorem also stressed a need for licensing reform.
“Currently, it is too administratively burdensome for a mental health physicians to get a license in many states,” Jorem said. “By changing how states license clinicians and making it easier for them to practice across state lines, this could help specialists reach more patients in rural communities.”
The National Institute of Mental Health funded the study.
Jacquelyn Voghel is a PBN staff writer. You may reach her at Voghel@PBN.com.
