A telehealth program allows people to consult with medical professionals over the internet. These programs are becoming increasingly more popular. According to a survey conducted by the virtual care and healthcare communication company Updox, out of 2,000 American adults, 42% have used telehealth services in the past two years. Of those who have used a telehealth program, 65% felt that meeting with a physician online is more convenient than going to an office. In addition, 63% preferred the lack of exposure to other sick patients that might be in the office as well.
A telehealth program requires nothing more than a smartphone or computer. An addict could conduct a session with their therapist without even getting out of bed. Sometimes, addicts search for excuses that may justify their decision not to seek rehab. With such an easy and convenient solution as telehealth, most addicts will try telehealth.
What is Telehealth?
Telehealth is counseling or treatment offered in a medium that isn’t in person. This includes:
- Online
- Text message
- Phone call
- Video chat
In a telehealth program, technology connects patients and counselors. It also offers patients a more affordable mode of therapy.
Who Can Provide Online Rehab?
Only licensed professionals can be part of a telehealth program. These can include mostly all mental health professionals, like psychologists, mental health counselors, social workers, marriage and family therapists, and psychiatrists. Certain professionals may only be licensed in their state of practice.
What are the Benefits of a Telehealth Program?
The list of benefits of a telehealth program is truly endless. Without even leaving the living room, a patient could have a thorough examination by a licensed physician. That may sound convenient to some, but to others, a telehealth program could be the difference between life and death.
Vast regions of the country containing millions of citizens lack sufficient healthcare services. While many people live prohibitively far from hospitals and doctors, specialty care such as rehab programs is even more scarce. Some people who need addiction counseling live so far from the closest specialty doctor, they are unable to get the required medical attention.
Countless people who need to go detox do not. As long as they have a good reason, addicts who would benefit enormously from addiction counseling have chosen not to. Quite possibly, the hardest decision an addict makes is to give up their drugs. If the closest rehab facility is more than 400 miles away, many addicts will just shrug their arms and give up before even stepping foot in the facility.
How Can a Telehealth Program Benefit an Addict?
Online rehab is a great way for addicts to become sober. Defeating an addiction could be a difficult task. After an addict gathers the strength and determination to want to quit, finding the time and money to participate in addiction counseling could be so overwhelming, that the addict hops back on the wagon.
However, telehealth programs provide an easy and accessible way for substance users to receive treatment. Below are just a few of the benefits that online rehab offers.
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Patients save money.
Once upon a time, seeing an addiction therapist was quite a costly procedure. If you accumulate all the money spent on transportation, childcare, parking as well as taking required time off, a single visit to an addiction therapist can be very costly. The ability to see a doctor on your smartphone reduces the costs.
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Therapy becomes more effective.
Before online therapy, the choice of doctors a patient can choose from was very limited. In fact, most addicts seeking addiction therapy had no choice at all. With telehealth, however, addicts are able to carefully choose from a large pool of therapists. In effect, choosing the right therapist greatly improves the efficacy of the treatment, which results in a greater probability of rehabilitation.
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Telehealth improves healthcare.
Telehealth allows patients to receive care more often. Instead of waiting until an ailment becomes untreatable, patients receive a diagnosis almost right away. In addition, instead of unnecessary ER visits, a patient can get checked out online right away. Both of these reasons contribute to America’s exorbitant healthcare costs. If more people used telehealth, and in effect, had their problems treated early and also did not cost hospitals billions of dollars by unnecessarily showing up at the ER, our healthcare system would vastly improve.
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It reduces patient no-shows.
It is all too common when a patient does not show up for an appointment. While no-shows affect the patient’s health, no-shows also affect the doctor’s finances much more. When a patient doesn’t show up, that is a time slot the doctor is not being paid for. People lead busy lives. Sometimes, they just miss their appointment. However, a telehealth appointment is almost impossible to miss. Even someone stuck in traffic could manage to participate in their telehealth session over the phone. A case study from Nebraska Children’s Hospital explained that most of their no-shows were as a result of their facility being too far away.
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Telehealth benefits the therapists as well.
In addition to the patient, telehealth offers benefits for the practitioners as well. Since the start of time, the pool of patients that any doctor, medicine man, or shaman would see was limited to the surrounding population. With the aid of telehealth, however, a patient base can grow exponentially. Telehealth also allows a doctor to conduct their business with much fewer expenses. The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center says that it saves $86.64 each time a patient sees a doctor online as opposed to on-site. Essentially, as long as a properly licensed practitioner has an internet connection, they could start their own practice.
How to Find an Online Addiction Counseling Program That Works For You
The benefits above are just a handful of the plethora of telehealth benefits. As explained in earlier, instead of being restricted to the one recommended therapist, patients now have access to an unlimited supply of therapists. Undoubtedly this is a great reason to use a telehealth program, if not the best. However, some patients may be intimidated by this abundance of choice. How does one choose among every single online addiction counseling program?
Check for affordability.
The first question one must ask themselves before attaining online addiction counseling is, “How will they pay for it?” Federally Qualified Health Centers are community-based centers that offer mental health programs as well as substance abuse programs. Call one of the friendly operators and, according to your location, they will search for a nearby practitioner who might help.
The national crisis text line allows people to connect to a counselor for free. Just text CRISIS to 741741, and you will be speaking to a counselor in no time. The majority of calls during the past two years have concerned the pandemic. The organization’s head of communications has said that conversations usually last around 30 to 45 minutes.
Figure out what kind of therapist you want.
Once the payment issue has been settled, now you need to find the best therapist available. Regarding online addiction counseling, the right therapist could be the bridge to sobriety. Online rehab is an extremely intimate and absorbing process. If the patient does not feel a connection with the therapist, the end result will likely be a failure.
Choosing the right therapist or online addiction counseling can be challenging. Such a daunting task could be one of the most important decisions that a recovering addict will make. First off, categorize telehealth counselors that specialize in your addiction. There might be thousands of online addiction counseling programs to choose from, but only a quarter of those specialize in the patient’s particular addiction, and only a quarter of those take the patient’s insurance. Suddenly, the massive sea of selection is narrowed down to just a handful.
Another good strategy to find the best possible doctor for a particular patient is to do some investigation. It should not be difficult to find reviews of the online addiction counseling program or the online rehab. What do previous patients of these programs have to say? A lot of negative reviews will be a good hint that a certain online rehab is not a good choice.
Chapel Hill Detox Can Help You Find a Telehealth Program
Addiction therapy comes in dozens of shapes and sizes. Although convenient and inexpensive, online addiction counseling is not always the best answer for a recovering addict. Chapel Hill Detox offers a variety of addiction therapy. Medical detox, for example, is required for addicts experiencing life-threatening withdrawal symptoms. Chapel Hill conducts medically supervised detox to evaluate the patient and determine the most effective form of therapy.
Chapel Hill also offers an inpatient rehab, aimed at helping a recovering addict learn how to function in day-to-day life activities, and how to live without using self-destructive habits.
A good place to start searching for online addiction counseling is the Chapel Hill Detox website, where you will find a host of helpful tools. Contact us today to learn more.
Reference:
https://www.medicaleconomics.com/view/survey-telehealth-rise-popular-patients