No-cancel culture: Telehealth brings therapy to all

When the COVID-19 pandemic forced behavioral health providers to stop seeing patients in person and instead hold therapy sessions remotely, the switch produced an unintended, positive consequence: Fewer patients skipped appointments.

That had long been a problem in mental health care. Some outpatient programs previously had no-show rates as high as 60 percent, according to several studies

Only 9 percent of psychiatrists reported that all patients kept their appointments before the pandemic, according to an American Psychiatric Association report. Once providers switched to telepsychiatry, that number increased to 32 percent.