Hepner Kimberly A, Sousa Jessica L, Hummer Justin, Pincus Harold Alan, Brown Ryan Andrew
Rand Health Q. 2022 Jun 30;9(3):17. eCollection 2022 Jun.
The COVID-19 pandemic prompted sweeping changes to behavioral health care delivery in the Military Health System (MHS), which turned to telehealth to minimize disruptions and ensure continuity of care for service members. Four to seven months into the pandemic, MHS behavioral health staff at ten military treatment facilities shared their experiences using telehealth and their perspectives on its utility, barriers to its wider integration in the MHS, and concerns about its use in the post-pandemic future. Telehealth use was previously low across the MHS, but it increased dramatically with the onset of the pandemic. At the time they were interviewed, nearly all providers who treated service members with posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, or substance use disorders were using audio-only telehealth in some capacity. Although most were not using video telehealth, three-quarters expressed an openness to using it in the future. However, the widespread integration of telehealth in the MHS will need to include efforts to overcome technical and administrative barriers and to address provider concerns about telehealth modalities for behavioral health care delivery-for example, the need for clinical guidance on using telehealth with specific types of patients, and provider and patient orientation on using telehealth technology.
新冠疫情促使军事卫生系统（MHS）的行为健康护理服务发生了全面变革，该系统转而采用远程医疗，以尽量减少干扰，并确保为军人提供持续的护理服务。在疫情爆发四到七个月后，十个军事治疗机构的MHS行为健康工作人员分享了他们使用远程医疗的经验，以及他们对其效用、在MHS中更广泛整合的障碍以及对疫情后未来使用远程医疗的担忧的看法。此前，远程医疗在整个MHS中的使用率较低，但随着疫情的爆发，其使用率大幅上升。在接受采访时，几乎所有治疗患有创伤后应激障碍、抑郁症或物质使用障碍军人的提供者都在某种程度上使用了仅音频的远程医疗。虽然大多数人没有使用视频远程医疗，但四分之三的人表示愿意在未来使用它。然而，要在MHS中广泛整合远程医疗，需要努力克服技术和行政障碍，并解决提供者对行为健康护理服务远程医疗模式的担忧——例如，需要针对特定类型患者使用远程医疗的临床指导，以及提供者和患者对使用远程医疗技术的培训。
