Barriers and Facilitators to Delivering Tele-Mental Health Services to Children and Families: 2022 Follow-up Survey Results of Louisiana Medicaid Providers After Rapid Telehealth Implementation During COVID-19

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

11-20-2024

Publication Title

Journal of Technology in Behavioral Science

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic presented unique challenges to implementing and delivering telehealth services to children and their families. A study conducted by the Center for Evidence to Practice at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center (LSUHSC) explored barriers and facilitators to providing and receiving telehealth services among providers delivering behavioral health (i.e., mental health and substance use service) to patients. A survey to determine barriers and facilitators to telehealth services was sent to providers in Louisiana in 2020 and again in 2022. In this study, we summarize the 2020 data and share updated barriers and facilitators identified in 2022. The 2022 survey results show how these barriers and facilitators changed for patients and providers as the pandemic progressed, as well as how providers adapted to telehealth services. The top barriers found in the 2022 survey included the number of clinicians and inadequate workforce; client access to the Internet, data, and devices; and the client’s knowledge of technology. The most common facilitators included increased access to clients, ability to reach hard-to-reach populations, and client access to Internet, data, and devices. Additionally, significant differences between providers using evidence-based practices and less structured approaches to therapy were explored. This study also included an examination of the providers’ treatment location and the modality. Future policies and practices related to telehealth services should consider these findings related to barriers and facilitators to improve any future transitions to telehealth services when in-person care is not accessible or safe. Notably, this study did not examine the overlap between responses from the 2020 and 2022 surveys and lacked statistical comparisons, leading to a focus on descriptive discussions and comparisons of survey percentages. This is one of the few studies that compare the rapid movement to telehealth in behavioral healthcare to a more recent period of care as services have returned to more practice as usual.

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