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Telehealth Now a Key for Mental Health Treatment

14 August 2025
Blog
3 minute read

eClinicalWorks

Telehealth has been a part of medical treatment for many years, but the COVID-19 pandemic spurred rapid and widespread adoption of remote solutions for patient care, with particular focus on the use of such solutions for mental and behavioral health.

Early applications of remote care included the 1948 transmission of radiology images by telephone between medical facilities in Philadelphia and the use of satellites to provide medical services to residents of a remote Indian reservation in the 1970s.

But meeting the challenges posed by the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic led technology providers, hospitals, doctors, and politicians to take unprecedented steps to improve the quality and availability of telehealth solutions.

Helping Treat Depression and Anxiety

The available evidence suggests those efforts have improved care, particularly for those in need of mental and behavioral health services.

An October 2024 paper in Computers in Human Behavior concluded that telemedicine has “significant potential” in managing common mental disorders, particularly depression and anxiety.

“Our findings indicate that telemedicine interventions yield outcomes comparable to traditional methods, making it a viable alternative, especially in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has highlighted the need for accessible mental health care,” the authors wrote.

Online Booking and Care at Alevea Mental Health

For many practices, using telehealth solutions to extend care to patients at home during the COVID-19 pandemic was only the beginning. With vaccines and effective treatments for COVID now widely available, they have found that telehealth continues to be a convenient and cost-effective means of delivering care.

Alevea Mental Health, with offices in Phoenix and Tempe, Arizona as well as Florida, has seen tremendous success employing the eClinicalWorks® Electronic Health Record in conjunction with healow® Open Access® and healow TeleVisits™.

Using the self-scheduling software available through healow Open Access, Alevea’s patients now book 80% of all appointments online each month. That means a dramatic reduction in the number of routine phone calls that the practice’s front-office staff would otherwise have to field — and additional time to focus on other administrative tasks and direct patient care.

That impressive percentage is matched by an equally impressive number — more than 830 appointments each month are being conducted remotely using healow TeleVisits.

“eClinicalWorks and healow help improve practice efficiency, enhance Patient Engagement, and lower costs,” says Topher Bradshaw, CEO at Alevea Mental Health. “Telehealth is integral to behavioral health, and healow allows our providers to connect with patients easily for routine follow-up and check-in visits. Patients can click a healow secure text or email link to start a visit from the comfort of their own homes. It is gaining popularity each month.”

A Bright Outlook for Telehealth Solutions

Implementing a telehealth solution or adding an online booking solution to a medical practice is a step forward. Combining the two can lead to even greater efficiency. Patients are simply more likely to seek care from practices and providers who make it easy to access care. That means making provider schedules available online, along with the range of services, costs, and what insurances are accepted.

Combine that with the ease of conducting a remote consultation and it is easy to understand why telehealth continues to grow in popularity.

“Ample literature describes the benefits of telemedicine for improving access to care for patients who would need to travel long geographical distances to access care, who are caregivers and find it difficult to leave home for appointments, or who have jobs that make it difficult to access care if they had to leave work to do so,” notes a 2023 clinical review in The BMJ.

“Provided that the favorable health policy and payment environment continues, telemental health has the potential to remain as a routine approach to patient care for mental health conditions,” the review adds.

“Alevea Mental Health’s adoption of eClinicalWorks and healow showcases the transformative power of digital solutions in healthcare,” said Girish Navani, CEO and co-founder of eClinicalWorks. “With over 80% of appointments scheduled online, Alevea redefines patient convenience and care delivery. We are proud to support their mission with our innovative technology.”

To learn more, click visit plus.healow.com to learn about healow TeleVisits and click here to see how healow Open Access can help your practice reach more patients more easily.