Feel free to drop me a line if you have questions about submitting your specific topic, but otherwise, please send your manuscripts to the email address at the bottom of the file.

Please note, 2 types of submissions will be accepted:
1. traditional research (20-25 pages)
2. profiles of successful projects (1-page)

~
Telehealth, Telepsychology and Technology-Related Papers: Open Call for Manuscripts
The editorial staff at the American Psychological Association,
Division 18′s journal entitled Psychological Services is extending an
invitation for manuscripts to be considered for a special section on
technology-based mental health services. Pat Deleon, Ph.D., J.D. is
the publication’s editor. Marlene M. Maheu Ph.D. is the guest editor.

Technology development is accelerating and doubles every year in
capacity, price performance and bandwidth. Yet, psychology still
offers a dearth of theory and research related to technology-based
services psychologists could be delivering. Therefore, this special
section will be devoted to the three overlapping areas of
psychological service delivery:

1. information technology (including to the telecommunication
specialties of telehealth: telemental health; telepsychology; distance
assessment and psychological testing; ehealth (Internet-based
telehealth such as in email, chat rooms, instant messaging, audio and
audio recording, videoconferencing, psycho-education formats such as
webinars, community forums, social networking, and other forms of
self-help); mobile health (or “mhealth” such as text messaging or
iPhone/ smartphone “applications or “apps”) and universal health
(uhealth) as is being conducted in foreign countries such as South
Korea.

2. nanotechnology (including microchips, nanodevices, nanosensors,
nanoelectronics, biofeedback, virtual reality )

3. biotechnology (medical and psychological “devices,” biometric
sensors, genomics, proteomics, diagnostics, pharmaceuticals and
psychoinformatics).

The US Federal government began its funding of telemedicine with
telepsychiatry over 50 years ago, but most psychologists are unaware
of the over 10,000 telemedicine articles that have been published in
all areas of medicine since then. Not only has telepsychiatry (and
telemedicine in general) been shown to be effective as well as cost
effective, Medicare and Medicaid have been reimbursing for such
services in specified conditions. Eleven states of the union now
require all insurance carriers to reimburse for telehealth services,
but most mental health practitioners are unaware of their ability to
receive such reimbursement.

Division 18 welcomes two types of submissions:

1. Traditional Manuscripts related to a variety of topics related to
technology, including, but not limited to:
* Video conferencing of psychotherapy and supervision
* evidence-based care management and psychotherapy
* continuing education
* use of Internet capabilities to advance psychological
interventions, including video, chat, email, instant messaging,
webinars, psycho-education, for either groups or individuals in
treatment; as an adjunct to treatment or as self-help
* ethical and legal challenges (e.g., licensure across state lines
or national borders; encryption; referrals, patient education;
professional boundaries online; supervision; security and
confidentiality; reliability; client or practitioner authentication;
psychological testing; informed consent procedures; multicultural or
multilingual issues; emergency backup procedures; direct care in
unsupervised settings such as the home or workplace; etc.)
* use of technology for administrative purposes (i.e., scheduling
through web interfaces, email or chat; electronic medical record
implementation)
* case consultation and supervision
* innovative use of publicly accessible information online
* multidisciplinary telehealth, such as collaboration with primary
care offices or home telehealth specialists including nurses
* innovative use of social media use of federal or state resources
on the Internet; psycho-informatics; or use of search engines in
practice
* reimbursement issues, including but not limited to grants,
Medicare Medicaid funding,  special programs (i.e., Indian Health
Services or children’s programs)
* models of service expansion  to rural or other special
populations  through technology

2. Model Programs: Manuscripts in the form of brief, 1 page (2.5 typed
pages) summary articles that are instructional in nature to exemplify
the current state of the art in practice settings. These brief
manuscripts must include a minimum of these elements:

a. name(s) of institution
b. service(s) delivered
c. type(s) of professionals involved
d. training for telemental services of professional(s) involved
(professional path to get where you are)
e. population(s) served
f. geographic location served
g. funding sources
h. technology used
i. technology choices that would be different next time and why
j. use of Electronic Medical Record (EMR)
k. biggest challenge(s)
l. biggest success(es)
m. lesson(s) learned

While the Division’s focus is on psychologists in “public service,”
usually defined as being employed by a governmental agency,
Psychological Services covers the full range of psychological services
provided in any service delivery setting.

Psychological Services therefore encourages submission of papers that
focus on broad issues related to psychotherapy outcomes, evaluations
of psychological service programs and systems, and public policy
analyses. The journal will also publish a limited number of
significant literature reviews, descriptions of training for
psychologists working in public service settings, and case studies of
psychological services, service delivery systems, or model programs.

Review papers, theoretical papers, and empirical papers are all
welcomed for submission. The deadline for receipt of papers for this
special section is March 15, 2011. Please follow the Instructions to
Authors information located on the Psychological Services website
at:http://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/ser/index.aspx.

Manuscripts must be submitted electronically through the Manuscript
Submission Web Portal as described on the journal’s website,
here:http://www.jbo.com/jbo3/submissions/dsp_jbo.cfm?journal_code=ser

Please specify in your cover letter that the submission is intended
for the special section on telehealth, telepsychology and technology
and address your letter to Dr. Lisa Kearney. All papers submitted will
be initially screened by the editorial board and then sent out for
blind peer review, if evaluated as appropriate for the journal. For
further questions related to this special section, please contact Dr.
Kearney at lisa.kearney3@va.gov.

______________________________________

Marlene M. Maheu, Ph.D. is the Executive Director of the TeleMental Health Institute, Inc., offering a Certificate training program in TeleMental Health for telepsychiatry, telepsychology, telesocial work, and online counseling.  Academic books authored by Dr. Maheu and colleagues include eHealth, Telehealth and Telemedicine and The Mental Health Professional & the New Technologies.

As many practitioners know, these federal programs set precedents for much other health care. Watch out health care world, here come the first wide-scale video-mediated practitioners!

Below, see the announcement sent by email from TriCare West yesterday.

Dr. Marlene

TRICARE Offering Telehealth Program – ATTN: Behavioral Health Prescribing Providers

Effective August 1, 2009, TriWest Healthcare Alliance will be implementing the new TriWest Online Care program, a program to increase behavioral health service for TRICARE active duty service members (ADSMs) and active duty family members (ADFMs) via telehealth services.

Providers can participate in this exciting opportunity as an Originating Site Facility or a Distant Site Facility. An Originating Site is the site where an eligible TRICARE beneficiary is located when the service is being furnished via a videoconferencing system. A Distant Site is the location where a TRICARE provider will render services being furnished via a videoconferencing system. TRICARE will reimburse for both types of services.

One of the areas in which we need to augment existing access to providers is in the area of behavioral health prescribers. Our TRICARE beneficiaries, particularly those located in rural areas, would benefit from additional access to those distant providers who can prescribe medications to behavioral health patients. Only network providers located in the West Region are currently eligible to participate in the demonstration project with TriWest.

TriWest sent an e-mail survey on June 10 to providers with information in order to gauge interest in participating in the program. If you are interested in providing additional care options for your TRICARE beneficiaries by offering space in your office for beneficiaries to access these services or by becoming a TRICARE Distant Site Behavioral Health Care provider, please click this link and complete the short questionnaire identifying your potential interest. The local network representative will follow-up with those providers indicating an interest. If you already have responded to the survey and have been contacted by your local network representative, there is no need to take the survey again. If you are interested in participating, please respond to the survey by Friday, June 26.

Here are the links to information regarding distant sites and originating sites. For more information regarding TRICARE Telemedicine policies, please refer to the TRICARE Policy Manual, Chapter 7, Section 22.1, at www.tricare.mil.

Marlene M. Maheu, Ph.D. is the Executive Director of the TeleMental Health Institute, Inc., offering a Certificate training program in TeleMental Health for telepsychiatry, telepsychology, telesocial work, and online counseling.  Academic books authored by Dr. Maheu and colleagues include eHealth, Telehealth and Telemedicine and The Mental Health Professional & the New Technologies.