We find ourselves months into the trenches of the COVID-19 crisis, and with each new day comes not only a different set of problems but new solutions as well. As first responders, public safety officers, and the medical community continue to show the need to increase hires within their fields, the process to make those hires must be modified to accommodate social distancing and COVID-19 precautions. The increase in demand has attributed to this and shows no sign of stopping. How do you hire and evaluate candidates on their mental health without onsite and in-person screenings? PsyBar, a recent acquisition of The IMA Group has responded to this need by expanding its telehealth and teleassessment services.
Fitness for duty, independent medical exams (IMEs), and behavioral health evaluations are all part of their offering via a secure and online platform. These forensic clinical psychiatric and psychological evaluations are conducted on a secure and HIPAA-compliant video platform that is web-based. Each PsyBar professional is licensed within the state where the teleassessment exam will take place. These evaluations, that were historically ONLY done in a face to face setting, are now conducted online and are able to meet forensic standards. According to Doug Markham of The IMA Group, these were redeveloped to be delivered remotely, but “they will continue to meet the highest clinical standards”.
We tend to lean towards the news headlines, those that focus on school closings, or when we can get a haircut, but there are millions of unseen ways that businesses have had to adapt or have been affected. PsyBar gives us an example of rethinking the current situation to not only adapt, but perhaps present us with new options and a changing landscape to work within for the future.
As we have seen and discussed in previous blogs, this is yet another way we are seeing the industry including insurers, employers, third-party admins, and other business associates modify their business model quickly to meet the needs of the U.S. healthcare economy. We look forward to hearing about future innovations.
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