Please support Telehealth.org’s ability to deliver helpful news, opinions, and analyses by turning off your ad blocker. A review of the ethical and legal requirements that apply to psychological practices, whether they be in- person or at a distance, is recommended prior to initiating telepsychology services. The American Psychological Association ethics code and Guidelines for the Practice of Telepsychology are good starting points. These documents offer a general set of expectations that are helpful in developing a telepsychology practice. Some major issues relevant to telepractice that they reference include competency, confidentiality, documentation, interjurisdictional practice, and mandated reporting. How those ethical requirements and guideline recommendations apply when providing telepsychology services need to be carefully considered and reflected in your policies and procedures. The same ethical requirements psychological for in-person services in general apply to services provided at a distance.
Another recommended set of relevant ethical telepractice guidelines are several interdisciplinary telemental health guidelines adopted by the American Telemedicine Association that are available at the ATA website. Although specific to the use of teleconferencing, they are comprehensive in identifying important telepractice areas applicable to other technologies.
Each state has its own psychology licensing law and rules that apply to telepsychology. Check to see if your state psychology law and rules reference telepsychology. Most state laws and rules include little or nothing specific to telepsychology practice. Consult your licensing board if you have questions, especially about providing services across states. This includes both state boards where you are licensed as well as where your clients are located. In addition to laws and regulations, licensing boards sometimes issue specific case rulings or opinions about telepsychology practice that may not be in the law and rules and are accessible on the licensing boards’ website. These may have explicit restrictions or expectations that are important to know. Generally state licensing boards expect anyone providing psychological services (including telepsychology services) to be licensed in the state where the client is located at the time of service. An exception to this may be available from a licensing board where the client is located, if the board offers a temporary psychology practice permit that includes interjurisdictional telepsychology. In addition to being knowledgeable about licensing laws, familiarity with other relevant state and federal laws and regulations that apply to telepractice (e.g. insurance, HIPAA, etc.) are important as well.
A critical requirement before initiating any new psychological practice is to obtain competency in the new area of practice. Psychology graduate programs generally have included little about telepsychology in their curriculums. This necessitates psychologists finding and receiving the necessary training and experience after graduate school before offering telepsychology services. Telemental health educational programs are available online that include standalone webinars or organized series of online classes. (e.g. Telebehavioral Health Institute, Zur Institute, Person -Centered Tech). Some training programs offer a telemental health certificate that formally recognizes that recipients have obtained such training.
Attending a few workshops, seminars, reading articles or listening to webinars, however, is not sufficient to prepare one for telepsychology practice. Such training may be important in providing necessary knowledge about competent telepsychology practice but is not likely to offer opportunities for developing the skills to apply that knowledge. That is where obtaining appropriate experience, supervision and or consultation is also important to include in developing any new practice area.
As telepsychology and telehealth in general is a rapidly evolving area of practice, it is incumbent upon psychologists to remain informed about what are considered best practices.
This blog was originally published in The National Psychologist – newspaper, Nov/Dec 2017, Vol. 26, No. 6, Page 11. It is reprinted here with permission. Other articles relevant to practice as well as subscriptions are available at their website.
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