​People living in remote areas of the country typically do not have access to the same level of healthcare services as those living in urban areas. This often holds true with mental health care, as well. Rural communities lack the necessary resources, have a shortage of healthcare providers, and are geographically isolated from centrally located mental healthcare services. Overcoming these barriers is essential for ensuring that rural populations receive the care they need.
 
Telehealth is able to fill this gap by allowing patients to meet with mental health professional remotely via a telecommunications platform. This allows vulnerable patients to overcome barriers to access and receive mental health care from the comfort of their homes.
 
How Does Telehealth Work?
 
Telehealth relies on digital communication tools and networks that allow a patient to meet with a healthcare practitioner remotely. These include communication channels such as messaging platforms, phones, and video calls. This gives patients convenient access to healthcare consultations, where healthcare providers can assess and diagnose their conditions and provide follow-up visits, often without the patient needing to see their healthcare provider in person. By taking advantage of Internet-based technologies, telehealth provides patients with flexible and convenient access to essential healthcare services that may not otherwise be readily available.
 
Telehealth offers a variety of services that go beyond standard consultations, such as remote monitoring, chronic condition management, and health education. Its primary goal is to make health care more accessible by eliminating geographic and logistical barriers, especially for those residing in underserved or remote regions of the country. The adoption of telehealth is on the rise, with research indicating that up to 60 percent of healthcare leaders are open to utilizing it. This growing interest stems from telehealth's ability to improve patient care, lower costs, and help bridge gaps in providing patients with access to healthcare services.
 
Challenges in Providing Behavioral Care to Rural Communities
 
Providing behavioral care to remote communities is particularly challenging due to these communities being geographically isolated. Poor rural communities often have very limited, if any, access to local healthcare infrastructure, and residents may not be able to afford to travel to urban centers to receive the care they need. This can result in significant gaps in both access to behavioral care and the quality of care received.
 
Some of the key challenges that contribute to the disparities in mental health access in remote communities include:
 
•          Shortage of Behavioral Care Specialists: Rural communities often face a shortage of mental health practitioners, and the few that are available typically serve several communities across a wide area. According to the American Counseling Association, in 2022, 47 percent of the US population was living in areas that had a shortage of mental health workers, with some states needing up to 700 more behavioral care practitioners. As a result, patients may have to book appointments far ahead of time, or may not have any access to much-needed care.
 
•          Remote Location: Rural communities are often geographically isolated from urban centers, where the nearest mental healthcare services are typically located. Patients may not have vehicles or may not be able to afford public transport to travel the long distances required to access behavioral care.
 
•          Stigma Associated with Mental Health Issues: In small rural communities, where virtually everyone knows everyone, the stigma associated with mental health issues may deter patients from seeking the help they need. A patient’s concerns about their privacy may result in mental health conditions going untreated.
 
•          Limited Funding and Resources: Behavioral care services in rural areas are often underfunded and under-resourced. Tight budgets can restrict access to essential programs, staff training, and mental healthcare support services. Rural communities often lack the necessary infrastructure to provide the full spectrum of mental health care, including crisis intervention or specialized treatment.
 
•          Socio-Economic Barriers: People living in poor rural communities often struggle financially, which can compound mental health challenges and hinder access to much-needed care. High levels of unemployment, lower incomes, and limited access to health insurance can make behavioral care unaffordable. Social factors, including limited resources and community support, add another layer of complexity, making access to essential care even harder.
 
•          Access to Technology and Digital Literacy: Though telehealth holds great potential, its success depends on consistent Internet access and familiarity with technology. Many remote regions continue to struggle with poor broadband coverage, which can impede the adoption of telehealth services. Furthermore, both patients and healthcare providers may require proper training to navigate and utilize digital health tools efficiently.
 
Telehealth’s Potential for Improving Rural Behavioral Care
 
Telehealth has proven to be a game-changer in tackling these challenges. By harnessing the power of technology, it offers a solution for delivering behavioral care services remotely, allowing patients in rural communities to receive care without the need for costly and time-consuming travel. Considering that around 46 million people reside in rural areas across the US (many of whom have difficulty accessing healthcare services), telehealth offers a ray of hope. It has the potential to overcome geographical barriers and providing remote access to behavioral care specialists over the Internet and via other online platforms.
 
For those receiving care for chronic mental health issues, telehealth provides a vital link to ongoing support from their behavioral care specialists. Having this service available is essential for the effective treatment and management of conditions like anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder, ensuring the patient receives steady and responsive care.
 
By receiving behavioral care in the privacy and comfort of their own homes, patients are shielded from the stigma attached to seeking help for mental health issues. They also do not have to incur the expense of traveling long distances to centralized mental healthcare facilities. Eliminating these two key factors. which often discourage patients from reach out for help, makes it more likely that people will get the help that they need.
 
Incorporating telehealth into rural behavioral care is a major step toward closing persistent gaps in the delivery of mental healthcare services. With advancing technology and improving communications infrastructure, telehealth is set to become a vital solution for bridging the divide in mental healthcare access, offering essential support where it's needed most.

An online survey conducted by Cross Country Healthcare, a leader in technology-driven workforce solutions, in partnership with Florida Atlantic University’s Christine E. Lynn College of Nursing, which interviewed more than 1,100 nursing staff and students at hospitals and health care facilities across the country, has revealed that nurses have reservations toward the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to potentially replace the personalized care that nursing staff offers. The newly published report, titled “The Future of Nursing: Embracing Technology While Preserving Humanity,” outlines four key strategies that healthcare organizations can implement to empower nurses to adopt AI in the workplace without compromising the level of compassionate care that they provide their patients.
 
The survey’s findings reflect subtle differences in perspective among nurses  regarding the incorporation of AI, with over half expressing concerns and 38% doubting its potential advantages for nursing. While a small percentage of those interviewed acknowledge AI’s ability to improve efficiency, especially in areas such as patient monitoring, record keeping, skill development, and research, they still have concerns due to AI’s perceived lack of compassion, potential data breaches, the learning curve involved with adopting AI technology, and its potential to put their jobs at risk.

However, to get the most out of AI, it should augment rather than replace the human element in healthcare. Patient well-being and human connection should always be prioritized. AI can enhance efficiency and accuracy in diagnosis and treatment, but human empathy and personalized care are irreplaceable. Collaboration between healthcare providers and AI specialists to integrate technology while maintaining patient-centered care should be encouraged to attain a delicate balance between the two.

Key Insights From the Study

Apart from highlighting nurses' mental well-being, including their concerns regarding staffing shortages, which often lead to fatigue and burnout, the study revealed several important insights.


·      Roughly 74 percent of the nurses surveyed have never used telehealth services, despite the many benefits they offer to both nurses and patients.
·      Twenty-nine percent of nursing professionals and 41 percent of nursing students are considering retiring or looking for alternative work opportunities in other professions in the not-too-distant future.
·      A whopping 96 percent of nurses survey support increased pay together with incentives to attract and retain nursing staff.


Empowering Nurses to Adopt AI

Cross Country outlines four key strategies that healthcare organizations can implement to encourage nurses to adopt AI in the workplace:  

1. Transparency

Nurses should understand how they can leverage AI within their roles and the benefits it can offer them. Leadership should provide transparent communication including thorough explanations and case studies of how the technology works to build trust and reduce apprehension among nurses. Patients and healthcare providers should understand how AI algorithms work and how they influence clinical decisions.

2. Education and Training

The effective integration of AI requires healthcare professionals to be well-versed in AI concepts and application. Nurses should undergo comprehensive training to equip them with the knowledge and skills to enable them to utilize AI effectively and proficiently, thereby building confidence in the use of AI tools. Training programs should emphasize ethical considerations, data privacy, and the importance of maintaining a human touch in patient interactions.

3. Communication

Communication strategies should be tailored to align with the specific nursing persona they are targeting, addressing their unique concerns and challenges to encourage acceptance of AI.

4. Feedback

Seek and incorporate nurses' feedback into AI solutions, customizing them to tackle specific challenges, improve workflows, and enhance the nursing experience.

Enhancing Workflows, Not Replacing Humans

AI should be viewed as a tool to enhance healthcare workflows and decision-making, rather than replacing the intuition, empathy, and personalized care provided by nurses. Integrating AI in ways that not only complement and support human expertise, but also enhance the capabilities of human healthcare providers, can ultimately improve patient outcomes. AI can enable nurses to spend less time on routine tasks and concentrate more on patients and healthcare outcomes. Ultimately, AI could elevate the patient experience, increase access to healthcare services, and spur positive change.

TapestryHealth offers a wide range of innovative AI and other telehealth technologies that can help nurses in nursing homes, assisted living, home health communities, and other healthcare facilities streamline their workflow. From AI and data analytic solutions to remote patient monitoring, telemedicine, primary healthcare, behavioral care, and more, our technologies save healthcare practitioners time, allowing them to provide their patients with more focused care.

​Telehealth platforms allow doctors to consult with their patients from anywhere via a computer screen, but a recent study has revealed that patients prefer a professional-looking background to the more informal setting of a home environment.
 
Patients across America have grown accustomed to seeing health care providers via video telehealth visits since the start of the COVID pandemic in early 2021. However, a recent study conducted by researchers from the University of Michigan’s academic medical center, Michigan Medicine, and the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System, shows that the backdrop displayed behind a doctor during a telehealth consultation can affect a patient’s perception of both the healthcare provider and the care they are providing.
 
Patients prefer a professional backdrop

Telehealth technology gives both patients and doctors the flexibility to participate in telehealth visits from wherever they are based, including the comfort of their own home. While telehealth gives doctors the ability to consult with patients from other locations besides their regular consulting rooms, they should use a professional backdrop that makes it appear as if they are there, according to the study.
 
Doctors can consult with their patients from a home office with their qualifications and certifications hanging on the wall behind them or use a virtual background that resembles such a setting. Since first impressions count, this is particularly relevant if it is the first time they are seeing the patient. A home office with a plain solid-color wall or bookshelf in the background are also acceptable options to patients.
 
Virtual backgrounds

When consulting with patients in a home environment where the background consists of a bed or kitchen, healthcare providers should use virtual backgrounds or at least blur the background to make it less obvious that it is not a professional setting. 
 
For the study, which recently appeared in the scientific journal JAMA Network Open, more than 1,200 patients participated in a survey where they were asked to provide feedback on seven different backdrops behind a model physician. For each setting, patients were asked to rate how knowledgeable, caring, trustworthy, approachable, and professional the doctor appeared, as well as how comfortable they would be consulting with that particular healthcare provider, for both an initial consultation or a return visit.
 
Lead author Nathan Houchens, M.D., an associate professor of internal medicine at the University of Michigan and the associate chief of medicine at the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System, noted that as telehealth doesn’t appear to be going away anytime soon, it’s important to understand patient preferences in terms of the setting their healthcare provider is operating from.
 
Bedside manner vs ‘webside’ manner

According to Houchens, the swift transition to virtual health during the COVID pandemic meant there was initially very little guidance on best practices for telehealth. In order to reduce the transmission of the virus, healthcare providers were encouraged to conduct virtual consultations with their patients outside of clinics if there was no need for them to go in. However, some clinics have now set aside dedicated areas where healthcare providers can conduct telehealth visits should they need to come in to see other patients in person. As some of these areas may be shared spaces used by other healthcare providers, as well, a virtual background can be useful in reducing visual distractions in these settings.
Houchens points out that as the use of telehealth has become more widespread, healthcare providers have received some guidance in terms of how their verbal communication can improve their “webside manner,” but there is very little guidance regarding the backgrounds used in televideo consultations.
 
The researchers found that patients had an utter dislike for kitchen and bedroom backgrounds, with only 2% and 3.5% preferring these backdrops respectively, compared to 14% preferring each of the following: a plain colored wall or backdrop, home office setting with a bookshelf, or examination room. Eighteen percent prefer a doctor’s office and 35% prefer an office with qualifications on display.


The kitchen and bedroom backgrounds also scored significantly lower than the other five backgrounds in patients’ ratings for how each background would make them feel about receiving care from a healthcare provider.
 
Interpersonal communication

This telehealth study follows previous research from Houchens on how interpersonal communication, including non-verbal factors such as body language and attire, can affect the patient-provider relationship. Houchens points out that as with a televideo background, seemingly superficial factors such as what doctors wear can affect the patient experience during a telehealth visit.
 
“Patients have expectations of what physicians’ attire and workspaces should look like. This study showed that patients prefer what have been previously termed traditional or professional attire and settings,” Houchens explained. “Diplomas and credentials remind patients of the expertise they expect a physician to have, and conversely, something is lost when the background conveys a relaxed, informal home environment.”
 
The researchers suggest that healthcare providers can optimize the patient experience by conducting virtual visits from a conventional setting, such as an office or examination room. Clinics can make unused spaces available for doctors to use to conduct telehealth visits when they have to come into the clinic to see other patients in person. When these options are not available, physicians can use virtual backgrounds that resemble a professional setting to boost patients’ confidence in them and the care they are providing.
 

Named Best CFO of a Small Cap Healthcare Company by Institutional Investor in 2017, Mark Hirschhorn has more than three decades of financial and operational leadership experience across various sectors, managing more than 45 acquisitions during this time. In February 2020, Mark Hirschhorn was named president and COO of Talkspace.

Talkspace, which provides online mental health therapy and services, partnered with musician and activist Demi Lovato in September 2020. Appointed spokesperson for the company, Lovato has been tasked with using her voice to not only destigmatize therapy but to encourage others to proactively manage their mental health. Lovato has been a longtime advocate for mental wellness, as she has had to overcome her own mental health obstacles. Talkspace CEO Oren Frank said the company has "always admired her commitment and willingness to speak up."

The partnership came on the heels of significant growth for the company as it doubled its year-over-year volume from the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, during which more than half of US citizens reported a decline in mental health. Lovato's work to spread awareness of Talkspace is also noteworthy considering two-thirds of individuals diagnosed with a mental health illness don't seek treatment.

An award-winning senior executive, Mark Hirschhorn leverages more than three decades of experience to guide operations as the president, COO, and CFO of Talkspace. He previously served in leadership roles at ArisGlobal and Datatec Systems, Inc., among other companies. In addition to his work, Mark Hirschhorn supports multiple nonprofits, including The Children’s Village.

Founded in 1851, The Children’s Village works with families to help children from disadvantaged backgrounds or who are otherwise vulnerable receive an education and become socially responsible citizens. Beyond its programming in this area, The Children’s Village also offers the Clemente Course in the Humanities for youth and adults who have been deprived of an enriching education due to various economic, political, and social forces.

The one-year academic program features courses in art history, moral philosophy, literature, and critical thinking and writing, among other topics. Students meet every Tuesday and Thursday from 6 to 8:30 p.m. at the Drew Hamilton Community Center in Harlem and receive free tuition and books, as well as transportation and childcare if needed.

Conceived of by Earl Shorris in 1995, the Clemente Course in the Humanities was brought to Harlem by Dr. David Kittay. Course graduates receive six transferable credits for Bard College.

Mark Hirschhorn has spent more than two decades in key executive roles building and developing IT operations, securing capital flow and regulatory compliance, and directing IPO negotiations at emerging and established companies. Currently serving as president and COO of the online behavioral health services platform Talkspace, Mark Hirschhorn helps guide the growth of an innovative company offering clients the opportunity to access therapy on their own terms and in their own time.

Talkspace operates from a secure digital platform that enables clients to schedule face-to-face video sessions with licensed mental health therapists. Known for courageously sharing her own struggles with mental health, singer Demi Lovato is among the platform’s most prominent advocates.

Knowing that support for mental and emotional health remains a crucial but often unmet need in today’s world, Lovato has publicly shared her personal journey as a way of helping others in similar situations understand that they are not alone. Her support for the Talkspace mission, as she notes on the platform’s website, is anchored in her conviction that giving people the right resources to improve their lives is a major part of helping them achieve comfort, a sense of personal empowerment and worth, and the ability to thrive.

Part of Lovato’s excitement about her partnership with Talkspace stems from the fact that she remains committed to actively combating the stigma attached to therapy and people working through mental health issues. Experts estimate that about half of all Americans live with mental health struggles, but only about a third seek treatment. Lovato and Talkspace aim to change that.

A senior executive with more than three decades of leadership experience, Mark Hirschhorn has facilitated more than 45 acquisitions throughout his career and overseen finance operations at businesses across diverse industries. He has served as the president, COO, and CFO of Talkspace since February 2020. When he isn’t working, Mark Hirschhorn enjoys staying active through tennis.

There are four major tournaments that comprise the Grand Slam in tennis:

1. Australian Open - The first Grand Slam tournament of the year, the Australian Open occurs over a two-week period in January in Melbourne. The tournament was once played on grass, but it switched to hard courts in 1988. With 11 titles, retired player Margaret Court has been the most successful singles player at the Australian Open.

2. French Open - The annual French Open takes place in Paris over the course of two weeks. It is played outdoors on clay. Rafael Nadal is the most accomplished men’s singles performer with a record 13 French Open titles. He defeated Novak Djokovic to win the tournament in 2020.

3. Wimbledon - The oldest tennis tournament in the world, Wimbledon is played on grass in London in late June and early July. Players are required to adhere to a strict dress code of wearing only white clothing during matches.

4. US Open - The US Open begins on the final Monday in August every year and is the only one of the four major tournaments to employ a 12-point tiebreak for sets tied at 6-6. Serena Williams, Chris Evert, and Roger Federer are among the most accomplished singles players at the US Open.