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Telepsychiatry as an Economically Better Model for Reaching the Unreached: A Retrospective Report from South India.
- Source :
- Indian Journal of Psychological Medicine; May/Jun2017, Vol. 39 Issue 3, p271-275, 5p
- Publication Year :
- 2017
-
Abstract
- Aim: In a resource-poor country such as India, telepsychiatry could be an economical method to expand health-care services. This study was planned to compare the costing and feasibility of three different service delivery models. The end user was a state-funded long-stay Rehabilitation Center (RC) for the homeless. Methodology: Model A comprised patients going to a tertiary care center for clinical care, Model B was community outreach service, and Model C comprised telepsychiatry services. The costing included expenses incurred by the health system to complete a single consultation for a patient on an outpatient basis. It specifically excluded the cost borne by the care-receiver. No patients were interviewed for the study. Results: The RC had 736 inmates, of which 341 had mental illness of very long duration. On comparing the costing, Model A costed 6047.5 INR (100$), Model B costed 577.1 INR (9.1$), and Model C costed 137.2 INR (2.2$). Model C was found fifty times more economical when compared to Model A and four times more economical when compared to Model B. Conclusion: Telepsychiatry services connecting tertiary center and a primary health-care center have potential to be an economical model of service delivery compared to other traditional ones. This resource needs to be tapped in a better fashion to reach the unreached. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Subjects :
- TELEPSYCHIATRY
MENTAL health services
TERTIARY care
PRIMARY care
MEDICAL centers
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 02537176
- Volume :
- 39
- Issue :
- 3
- Database :
- Complementary Index
- Journal :
- Indian Journal of Psychological Medicine
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 123336036
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.4103/IJPSYM.IJPSYM_441_16