Implementation of a Centralized Telepsychiatry Consult Service in a Multi-Hospital Metropolitan Healthcare System: Challenges and Opportunities

Shayevitz, Christina; Breitinger, Scott; Lerario, Mackenzie P.; Mroczkowski, Megan; Osuji, Martin; Fleischut, Peter; Khan, Mashal; Murray, Joseph; Wilner, Philip; Sombrotto, Lisa

BACKGROUND: Providing adequate psychiatry consultation capacity on a 24/7 basis is an intrinsic challenge throughout many multi-hospital healthcare systems. At present, implementation research has not adequately defined the effectiveness and feasibility of a centralized telepsychiatry consultation service within a multi-hospital healthcare system. OBJECTIVE: To demonstrate feasibility of a hub and spoke model for provision of inpatient consult telepsychiatry service from an academic medical center to two affiliated regional hospital sites, to reduce patient wait time, and to develop best practice guidelines for telepsychiatry consultations to the acutely medically ill. METHODS: The implementation, interprofessional workflow, process of triage, and provider satisfaction were described from the first 13 months of the service. RESULTS: This pilot study resulted in 557 completed telepsychiatry consults over the course of 13 months from 2018 to 2019. A range of psychiatric conditions commonly encountered by CL services were diagnosed and treated through the teleconferencing modality. The most common barriers to successful use of telepsychiatry were defined for the 20% of consult requests that were re-triaged to face-to-face evaluation. The average patient wait time from consult request to initial consultation was reduced from > 24 hours to 92 minutes. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrated the feasibility of a centralized telepsychiatry hub to improve delivery of psychiatry consultation within a multi-hospital system with an overall reduction in patient wait time. This work may serve as a model for further design innovation across many healthcare settings and new patient sub-populations.