Law OKs cross-state PTSD telehealth counseling

Law OKs cross-state PTSD telehealth counseling
By Joe Gould - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday Feb 7, 2012 9:29:32 EST
The recent passage of the National Defense Authorization Act in Congress will make it easier for active-duty personnel and veterans to get mental health care wherever they are, officials said.

A provision of the act, aimed at expanding federal exemptions for behavioral telehealth consultations across state lines, removes the requirement for health care providers to be licensed in the state in which their patients are being treated.

Gen. Peter Chiarelli, the Army vice chief of staff and an advocate for providing behavioral health counseling to soldiers in their homes via telehealth, praised the new law as a “big victory.”

“It’s the biggest step forward we’ve seen in two years,” Chiarelli told Army Times. “For me, it is huge. We have just to take advantage of it.”

Nearly 20 percent of military personnel returning from Iraq and Afghanistan showed symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, according to a Rand Corp. survey.

Patients are plentiful, but the doctors who are needed to treat them are not. Chiarelli acknowledged a shortage of behavioral health specialists in the Army, as well as the challenge of attracting, hiring and retaining them to the rural areas that surround some posts.
read more here