About American Indian Living

A one-hour weekly talk show focusing on health issues in Indian country, viewed in a holistic way in keeping with traditional Native perspectives, hosted by David DeRose M.D.

About this episode

Naveen Kathuria, SVP Partnerships and Compliance for Regroup, sat down with American Indian Living to share exciting developments in Telehealth that are making mental health services available and culturally appropriate even in remote locations. Jim Landelius, Oklahoma Conference Native Ministries Associate, rounds out the show with insights into perhaps the most atypical National Tribal Health Conference sponsor.

Many of David Cohn’s life choices have been dramatic about-faces, such as when he moved to Guatemala from the U.S. to join the Peace Corps after college, or when he later left the nongovernmental-organization world to take a job at a global management consultancy, Corporate Executive Board.

Only recently has Cohn figured out how to marry his sense of purpose and pragmatism, founding telepsychiatry company Regroup in 2011. Regroup uses videoconferencing to bring counseling services to communities where counselors are scarce.

"The U.S. is facing a nationwide shortage of psychiatric clinicians, and that shortage is expected to grow to an estimated 15,600 psychiatrists by 2025. At the same time, the growing opioid crisis, economic hardship and other factors mean patients need these services more than ever. Nearly one in five American adults is living with mental illness, which can lead to lower job productivity, physical co-morbidities and increased hospitalization risk if left untreated. It’s little wonder that psychiatrists are now No. 2 on the list of in-demand medical specializations – and telepsychiatry has emerged as an effective method to put more psychiatrists within reach of healthcare facilities."

With a career in behavioral health spanning more than three decades, Julian Cohen has been instrumental in shaping the way communities throughout the U.S. access mental health treatment. Before joining Regroup in February this year, Cohen most recently served as president of Teladoc Behavioral Health and, prior to that, CEO of Breakthrough Behavioral.

Here, Cohen talks about how Regroup works closely with healthcare organizations and telepsychiatrists to improve access and care through strong partner, provider and patient relationships.

When it comes to delivering behavioral health services, the ideal program looks different at every healthcare organization. For Advantage Health Centers, finding a telepsychiatry partner that understands its unique needs has been the key to success. 

As the U.S. faces a shortage of mental health providers, accessing clinicians can be especially challenging for correctional facilities. Prisons are often located in remote areas, and many clinicians are intimidated about working on-site. For these facilities, telepsychiatry can help to attract high-quality providers by enabling clinicians to work with patients from anywhere.

LGBT individuals in the United States continue to face significant challenges to accessing mental health services, due to a variety of factors, including discrimination at the social and legal levels, as well as prejudice within  health care  settings. Join Regroup as we discuss these challenges and the possibilities that telepsychiatry can offer to overcome barriers to mental health care for LGBT individuals.

In communities across the country where wealth and medical care is scarce, Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) can be a critical safety net to keep the neighborhood alive and well. These community healthcare centers provide access to medical, dental and behavioral health services, regardless of a patient’s ability to pay. Since most FQHCs operate in areas where quality mental health providers are in short supply, telepsychiatry can enable them to offer behavioral health services to underserved patients.

Reimbursement varies significantly by state as well as by payer, which means there are no hard and fast rules to help organizations determine if– and how much – they may be reimbursed for telepsychiatry services. While the federal Medicare program guidelines apply across the U.S., Medicaid programs are administered at the state level, which means each state can set its own criteria and telepsychiatry coverage. Each state can also determine whether private payers must offer reimbursement for telemedicine, causing significant variations in payments to clinicians and healthcare facilities.