On March 19, 2020, Pennsylvania’s Governor Wolf ordered all non-life sustaining businesses to close. The goal is to reduce the spread of COVID-19. Our office is open at the moment because Psychologists provide essential services. However, we are urging our clients to move to psychotherapy via video or telepsychology.
Telepsychology, or psychotherapy via video, has been around for more than 20 years. Research shows that video-based psychotherapy is as effective as in-person psychotherapy. I use a HIPAA-secure video platform called Doxy.me. If you’ve used FaceTime or Skype, you’ll see that the experience is very similar. You can learn more by visiting Doxy.me for patients. We can schedule a 10-minute meeting at Doxy.me to help get familiar with the platform.
Many insurance companies cover the cost of telepsychology same as in-person therapy. Medicare and other companies are changing their rules and covering the cost, due to social distancing and stay-at-home orders. Be sure to call your insurance company and ask if the cost of telepsychology will be covered.