With the rapid shift to telehealth services propelled by the COVID-19 pandemic, many community health centers had to rapidly transition to a mechanism of care delivery previously unknown and unfamiliar. Within a matter of days and weeks, health centers creatively found ways to transform workflows and approaches to care delivery to continue to provide care even if the patient was physically distant. This resource highlights promising practices in virtual integrated behavioral health care identified from community health centers. 

This resource describes how telehealth, with a focus on Remote Patient Monitoring, is being used during the COVID-19 public health emergency to help keep patients safe at home. Planning, implementation, and financial considerations are provided to assist health centers implementing or optimizing remote patient monitoring (RPM).

HITEQ is actively compiling a telehealth resource library for health centers, which houses actionable telehealth resources in the areas of telehealth technology, patient use of telehealth, provider use of telehealth, tele-behavioral health, and operationalizing telehealth more generally. This curated set of resources aims to assist health centers in accessing those resources that directly address current telehealth needs and challenges.

New guidelines from SAMHSA released in July 2020 are designed to improve coordination of care for patients in treatment for substance disorder, while protecting confidentiality against unauthorized disclosure and use of patient information. View this HITEQ webinar on changes to SAMHSA’s 42 CFR Part 2 rule (Part 2) which protects individuals receiving substance use disorder treatment by defining privacy and security requirements for written, electronic and verbal information. This webinar features expert presenters from the University of New Hampshire Institute for Health Policy and Practice and the Center of Excellence for Protected Health Information who present on the new final Part 2 rule and future changes in the CARES Act, including what has changed, what has not changed, what this means for health centers in regard to consents and disclosures, and the implications for care coordination. This presentation also addresses privacy considerations for tele-behavioral health and exceptions during the state of emergency waiver.