Eastern Iowa Health Center launches telepsychiatry service

CEDAR RAPIDS — In the face of long communitywide wait times to see a provider, the Eastern Iowa Health Center has launched a new service to provide psychiatric care for its patients via telehealth.

The Cedar Rapids-based provider launched the telehealth service that facilitates virtual visits with psychiatric providers located at another federally qualified health center in Iowa.

Eastern Iowa Health Center is a safety net provider, and the majority of its patients — roughly 70 percent — are on Medicaid. In the past year, officials say many of their patients began reporting challenges in accessing psychiatric care locally.

“What I have noticed since July of 2021 is that our Medicaid patients really do not have access to mental health services,” said Hannah Wagamon, behavioral health social worker. “There’s only a couple community partners they are able to get scheduled with, and then with COVID and staff turnover, we’re finding patients are waiting eight weeks for an appointment.”

Psychiatrists prescribe medications and offer a higher level of care than other mental health providers, such as a therapists. Patients in need of that care include those diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, among other conditions.

Since the official launch in mid-January, about 20 patients have established care and another 60 patients have been scheduled for care, Wagamon said. Telepsychiatric appointments are only available to existing Eastern Iowa Health Center patients.

The center still is working closely with other local behavioral health providers and has created this program as a stopgap to help patients receive care sooner, officials said.

“We are trying to supplement existing services, and we’re still working very closely with our community partners,” said Elly Steffen, the center’s chief operating officer.

To provide this service, the center partnered with Infinity Health, a federally qualified health center based in Decatur County that formerly was known as the Community Health Centers of Southern Iowa.

Though providing behavioral care through telehealth is not a new concept at Infinity Health, this is the first time officials have partnered with another health center to provide care for its patients, said Danielle O’Brien-Day, Infinity Health behavioral health director.

"Partnering with Eastern Iowa Health Center, who maybe is just dipping their foot in the water but not ready to fully invest in a full-time position right now, has been a great arrangement for both organizations,“ O’Brien-Day said.

Patients are referred to a telepsychiatry appointment by their primary care provider. Appointments with an Infinity Health psychiatric provider are hosted at one of the Eastern Iowa Health Center’s locations to provide convenient access for patients, who often face transportation barriers or other challenges.

Steffen said the telehealth appointments are covered by patients’ insurance, noting there was little cost associated with launching the service.

This partnership comes as behavioral health care providers have reported increasing rates of depression, anxiety and other mental health concerns among the population, boosting the demand for care and increasing the wait times for many patients.

“The one thing the pandemic did for us as health care providers was to be able to quickly introduce telehealth into our world and really forced us to make that leap into telehealth to offer the services patients need,” Steffen said.

Officials with the Eastern Iowa Health Center and Infinity Health said they hope to expand this service later this year, but no details have been finalized at this time.

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