Middletown-based MediTelecare, a provider of behavioral telehealth and other virtual services to residents of long-term care facilities, reported last week that its programs significantly reduced depression in an internal study.
A total of 94% of patients with moderately severe to severe depression reported “significant reduction in depressive symptom severity” in evaluations, according to a company statement.
A cohort of 509 patients in 400 facilities was assessed using a patient health questionnaire over a one-year period that ended in the second quarter of 2022. MediTelecare treated the patients through behavioral telehealth clinician encounters and then assessed them with the questionnaire.
The assessments found positive improvements in the patient cohort across key clinical measures defined by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, MediTelecare officials said.
Jessica Badichek, chief informatics and compliance officer at MediTelecare, said “These results indicate that telehealth allows greater access to care and can improve clinical outcomes for patients with depressive symptoms.”
The company also reported that 80% of facilities with patients being treated using MediTelecare’s telehealth services saw a decline in overall antipsychotic use, and also saw a 45% reduction in patients experiencing a fall while on an antipsychotic medication.
Last year MediTelecare announced a new product to ease the transition for patients moving from a facility to home, an app designed for older adults who may be using virtual health services for the first time.
Contact Liese Klein at lklein@newhavenbiz.com.
