“COVID-19 has caused shutdowns and isolation, increasing mental health distress for many Americans and making it difficult to access in-person treatment for mental health disorders. Many providers and health care professionals are turning to digital treatments and resources to help Americans struggling amid the pandemic.”
“The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration has collected data from 2020, indicating a substantial increase in mental health disorders among Americans this year. CDC data has shown that up to half of all Americans have experienced “significant mental health disorders” this year, noted SAMHSA Director of Management Technology and Operations Paolo del Vecchio during Thursday’s GovernmentCIO Media & Research Digital Health Modernization event.”
“’We’ve seen reports of increased substance abuse at the same time,’ del Vecchio added. ‘We’re seeing concerns about increases in the rates of deaths by suicide, as well as overdoses. So issues of anxiety, depression are ones that many Americans are experiencing — certainly social isolation, which is a significant factor that’s contributing to that.’”
“Mental health care providers have been trying to scale up digital care and telemedicine amid the increasing mental health distress across the country. Del Vecchio said that before COVID-19, data showed that only about 2% of all mental health treatment was provided online, and now 80% of providers are conducting a ‘majority of their services online.’”
“Defense health beneficiaries who have also struggled with mental health have also increasingly accessed virtual care throughout this year. Defense Health Agency Connected Health Director Dr. Simon Pincus reported that 5 to 10% of treatment visits were conducted via telehealth before the pandemic. But since March, telehealth use across the military health system has increased to 80% of visits…”
“While civilian, defense and veterans health IT officials have scaled up many digital mental health resources amid COVID-19, they are also looking toward the future of care with artificial intelligence applications to advance predictive analytics in preemptively identifying people at risk for suicide and other mental health complications…” Read the full article here.
Source: Agencies Look to Digital Tools, AI to Improve Mental Health Care – By Melissa Harris, October 2, 2020. GovernmentCIO.
