B07 – Transitioning to Telehealth in Primary Care Behavioral Health – a Retrospective Study Looking at Patient Satisfaction and Clinical Effectiveness of BHC Telehealth Visits versus In-Person Visits

Summary

(a) The recent pandemic created a significant shift in the process and workflow of healthcare services including primary care behavioral health services. There was a rapid unplanned shift to telemedicine with a lot of challenges along the way. Adaptability and adjustments to workflow became a crucial part of the work for BHCs. This is a retrospective study looking at patient satisfaction and clinical effectiveness of BHC telehealth services versus in-person services. Yakima Valley Farm Workers Clinic is a large FQHC in the Pacific Northwest, and it has over 40 clinics across Washington and Oregon with integrated behavioral health services at most of these clinics. Adapting to telehealth across the clinics became a vital part of the job for many of the providers and staff members. YVFWC serves the underserved communities. The population sample for this study includes men, women, and children of all ages. The study looks at patient satisfaction scores from BHC telehealth visits and in-person visits as well as PHQ-9 scores and GAD-7 scores across the two type of visits. Data for PHQ-9 and GAD-7 scores are collected during clinical visits. Patient satisfaction scores are usually randomly selected patients and scores are collected internally. Descriptive statistics will be used to present the results.