Telemedicine & Telepsychiatry

Continuity of care is a critical component of healthcare and WTS Health has developed a platform to promote the coordinated care of providers both inside and outside of correctional facilities.

While we believe the best care and outcomes will be delivered directly by WTS Health employees inside the facility, we believe telehealth provides needed, significant benefits to correctional healthcare. In addition to our in-house care, we incorporate telehealth solutions to extend the reach of care and specialty care beyond the local community. 

WTS Health is an experienced provider of Telehealth services, with over 11,000 hours of tele-psychiatry provided. In addition to telepsychiatry, WTS Health offers telemedicine support. Our telehealth solutions blend supplemental internal resources and support with external Specialist Providers.

This wholistic and realistic approach integrates on-site resources, telehealth services, and external, specialist support. We believe that a Realistic and Blended approach provides the best outcomes. Patients will be cared for in house and through telehealth as much as possible.

Telemedicine provides significant benefits to the patient, the facility, and the medical community.

• Reduces the need for patient and security travel, significantly reducing expense and improving security
• Improves Provider coverage beyond the in-facility hours contracted, including addressing time off, sick time, etc.
• Improves ability to fill challenging vacancies by going beyond the local market
• Promotes continuity of care for all of the care providers
• Accelerates service delivery times

Our process is simple, secure and low cost to implement. We utilize tablets with a durable and protective case. The tablets are limited exclusively to ZOOM calls with all other functionality locked down. The tablets include security software to allow for easy monitoring and control. Our healthcare staff control the tablets and keep them when not in use. The simple ZOOM connection between the tablet and our corporate staff is secure and safe. A nurse assists with the calls in a similar fashion as our telepsychiatry process. Notes are documented by the provider and/or the nurse through our EMR system.

We believe the process for providing telehealth services should be easy to implement. Low cost, and appropriate for the type of care it is best used for – routine care and follow up specialist care.

IT Requirements

• Telehealth requires a secure wireless connection
• No additional hardware, installation or support is needed

Minimizing the effort and equipment required by Specialist Providers allows us to keep the network robust and consistent. We do not require and special equipment for follow up calls with Specialist Providers. These providers simply need access to a computer with audio. Camera/video capabilities are not required. The tablets utilized provide video of the patient and while video of the doctor is desirable, it is not required for the consultation to take place. WTS Health does insist the Provider also appear on video to complete a seamless doctor-to-patient session, like any other traditional setting.

Specialist Providers will enjoy the easy-to-use process

• No special equipment required
• Efficient use of time
• Accelerates the time to be seen (less coordination required)
• Drives continuity of care by aligning the patient with their specialist provider