The Ehealth, Telehealth and Telemedicine Blog

American Telemedicine Association Survey – Please Complete

Dear Colleagues: Broad deployment of telemedicine requires common approaches and uniform practices. For over ten years ATA has been developing practice guidelines for the delivery of safe and effective healthcare via telemedicine. These guidelines are developed in cooperation with leading practitioners, researchers, societies and vendors. Nine such guidelines have been formally approved by the ATA [...]

Does Video Contact with Clients or Patients Require HIPAA Compliance?

If a US-based company isn’t claiming HIPAA compliance, my tendency is to recommend against using them for the delivery of telepsychiatry, telepsychology, online therapy or online counseling in the US, until they make claims for which they can be held accountable by our federal consumer protection agencies. That includes email, chat rooms, telephone or videoconferencing.

The Psychotechnologies: Developers Convene at the American Telemedicine Association’s Conference, May 16-18, 2010

As for the development of the psychotechnologies needed for expanding promote telemental health care, the American Telemedicine Association (ATA) has been bringing together vendors, researchers and clinicians from all medical disciplines from around the world since 1993.

Email or Chat Room and Skype-based Counseling and Psychotherapy: The Professional Standard of Care

Our legal standard of care has not yet been expanded to include email, chat room or exclusive Skype-based counseling or psychotherapy. Until it is, practitioners using these telecommunication tools could find it difficult to defend themselves if something goes wrong.

New Practice Guidelines for the Use of Videoconferencing in the Delivery of Mental Health Services

Guidelines Approved for Delivery of Remote Mental Health Services

The American Telemedicine Association (ATA) announced the availability
of formal practice guidelines for the use of videoconferencing for the
delivery of mental health services.

These guidelines are designed to form the standard of care for such
services and will be the basis for the development and practice of
uniform, effective, safe and sustainable telemental health practices.