Is Telepsychiatry Right for You as a Provider?

Telepsychiatry offers a different experience for psychiatric providers. For starters, a typical day starts from the comfort of your own home office. Each patient you see will be through your own device, in a familiar setting, during a schedule of your choosing. There’s no commute, no traffic to sit in, subway to ride, or bus to wait on, which means all the time you save can be spent doing the things you love.

If this sounds ideal, then telepsychiatry might be for you!

At VirtualMed Staff, one of our main service lines we offer is telepsychiatry. Telepsychiatry provides hospitals and health systems with access to remote psychiatrists, which are desperately needed due to provider shortages and the high cost to hire and train fulltime onsite staff. For rural areas of the country, telepsychiatry is especially vital, as it gives access to board-certified psychiatrists to areas historically underserved. For both VirtualMed Staff and our team of psychiatrists, the services we provide and the relationships we build with our clients is as rewarding to us and as the patients we serve.

So, how do you know if telepsychiatry is right for you as a provider? VirtualMed’s team of recruiters strive to staff the most qualified and committed candidates to fill telepsychiatry for our partners. Therefore, each psychiatrist we screen is vetted based on several conditions to ensure our partners receive the most skilled, experienced, and ideal candidates.

Here’s a look at the benefits of practicing telepsychiatry and the commitment VirtualMed has to its partners when qualifying candidates.

Access to Additional Long-Term Revenue Streams

It’s no surprise that one of the biggest benefits to telepsychiatry is the access to additional income. The added income can be used to pay off debt, fund vacations, increase savings, or however else you choose to use it. However, the additional revenue stream isn’t temporary or one-off payments. For VirtualMed psychiatrists, long-term commitments translate to long-term revenue streams.

The telepsychiatrists VirtualMed recruits are vital to ensuring patients have access to quality mental healthcare. Any gap in coverage means longer wait times to treatment and care, which can translate to poorer patient outcomes. To ensure stability, VirtualMed prefer candidates who can commit to long-term coverage and aren’t just “testing the waters” of virtual medicine.

Flexible Hours to Fit Any Schedule

Telepsychiatry isn’t your typical eight to five. There’s flexibility in choosing the shifts that align with your schedule. Have free time during the week or availability over the weekend? Fill it with a shift! Telepsychiatry allows you to create a schedule that is right for you, while providing vital access to mental healthcare for patients.

With the benefit of flexibility comes the dedication to the shifts you’ve committed to. We understand that emergencies and unforeseen events happen and ask that our psychiatrists provide as much advance notice as possible to ensure there’s no gap in coverage.

No Commute

Americans spend an average of 200 hours a year commuting to work. With telepsychiatry, there’s no need to commute. Psychiatrists can take appointments from the comfort of their homes and use the time they save pursuing the things they love, whether it’s spending more time with loved ones or focusing on hobbies they enjoy.

Although working from home means working in a familiar environment, VirtualMed Staff asks our psychiatrists to still maintain proper “webside manners” during consultations. That means maintaining a professional appearance, consulting in a private setting, and treating appointments as if they were taking place in a hospital or office setting.

A Partner During the Credentialing Process

Telepsychiatry allows psychiatrists to treat patients across state lines, in any time zone, day or night. With that type of access and flexibility, credentialing is an important aspect to getting partners up and running as soon as possible. Fortunately, VirtualMed Staff has you covered. Our team streamlines the entire process and works with you to make it as seamless as possible. All we ask is that you are responsive and dedicated to providing any paperwork or signatures needed so there are no roadblocks along the way.

The Technology is Accessible to Everyone

Practicing telepsychiatry doesn’t require an advanced degree in Computer Science or access to complicated technical hardware. All you need is a computer and a reliable internet connection. If there are hiccups along the way, VirtualMed Staff’s team of IT professionals have you covered. The only thing our psychiatrists need to worry about is having the right tools and internet bandwidth, so consultations aren’t interrupted due to internet speeds or faulty equipment.