For hospitals that want to add psychiatry to their palliative care services but are being stymied by the workforce shortage, other options, such as telepsychiatry, are available, said Dr. Andrew E. Esch, an internist and palliative care specialist in Tampa, Fla., and a consultant with the Center to Advance Palliative Care.
When Dr. Esch was the medical director for the palliative care program at Lee Memorial Health System in Fort Myers, Fla., the system didn’t have the funding to recruit and hire a psychiatrist for the palliative care program, even if one could have been found. So Lee Memorial partnered with the psycho-oncologists at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. For a set fee, Lee Memorial was able to call Massachusetts General about difficult patients and get real-time consults.
“I think there’s going to be a lot of opportunities for innovation in the future,” Dr. Esch said.