10.1 DEVELOPMENT OF TELE-PARTIAL HOSPITALIZATION PROGRAMS

Abstract

The pandemic prevented smooth running of the live groups in the child and adolescent partial hospitalization programs (PHPs), due to the social distancing guidelines. The need for mental health services for children was exacerbated due to limited peer interactions. Transitioning of the traditional partial programs to tele-PHP was a pressing need of the hour to maintain mental health services for children. This presentation highlights the various steps that were taken in the development of a successful tele-child PHP. First, the challenge was to adapt to a HIPAA-compliant virtual platform. After a trial, a HIPAA-compliant virtual platform was selected for telehealth delivery, and staff was appropriately trained. Individual email links were used to connect with patients for group therapy, individual and family therapy, and medication management. Initially, intakes were limited to inpatient unit discharges, and completed in-person and subsequent follow-up services were provided virtually. Eventually, all services were moved to virtual platforms, and community referrals were accepted. Staff was available on-site for in-person evaluation if needed. Next, electronic outcome measures were integrated to be completed by the parents/patients at home at intake and discharge. Meeting licensure requirements was important because physicians needed to be licensed in the state where the patient was. Transitioning from traditional to tele-PHP was a challenging yet inspiring path. Tele-PHP was able to run smoothly within 1 to 2 weeks and was running virtual groups from March 2020 to July 2020, which moved to hybrid programming thereafter. It led to the increased access of mental health services for children including patients with social anxiety and autism spectrum disorder, who responded better to telehealth platforms, with improvement in participation and engagement in the program. Restrictions due to the pandemic led to the development of tele-PHP, despite various challenges and roadblocks. It helped us learn that telehealth services could be a potential long-term-care approach for the partial program and a reliable solution. Extensive research is needed to evaluate the effectiveness of the tele-PHP.