When behavioral health provider organizations deliver telehealth services with the same commitment they devote to in-person care, they lift barriers to access and become fully patient-centered in their clinical strategy. Gateway Rehabilitation Center in Pennsylvania has prioritized a standard-of-care approach to telehealth for several years, and is seeing substantial growth in a telehealth-only treatment program that now numbers close to 700 patient encounters a week.
In 2024 a new Pennsylvania law mandated that commercial insurers cover telehealth services in the same manner that applies to in-person outpatient treatment. This helped pave the way for Gateway Rehab to become the first substance use and mental health treatment provider in Pennsylvania to receive a state license to operate a fully remote behavioral health treatment program.
Eleven Gateway Rehab therapists are now devoted full-time to the Hope from Home program, said Stephanie Yorty, Gateway’s clinical director of telehealth. Participants in the clinical sessions remain on camera throughout, in a highly interactive format. “The model is exactly what you’d get in in-person treatment,” Yorty said.
Yorty joined Gateway Rehab last February, having observed its reputation for facilitating access to care when she worked at other organizations in the community. All of the clinical innovations Gateway has embraced in its programming can be part of Hope to Home, such as EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) therapy to address patient trauma. Telehealth services in Hope from Home include substance use disorder counseling, psychiatric care, preventive services and medication management.
Hope from Home also can serve as an ideal alternative for working professionals whose career demands compromise the ability to attend in-person appointments. A health professionals track for nurses has grown to more than 50 participants. Improving access to care for nurses has become critical amid a nationwide nursing shortage, said Matthew Rumbaugh, Gateway Rehab’s executive director of telehealth. The organization is now exploring similar initiatives for other professional groups.
Offering the necessary support to both the patient and the provider operating in a telehealth environment remains a critical priority for Gateway Rehab’s leaders. Rumbaugh, who has been in his role overseeing telehealth since 2022, said a digital navigator on staff helps patients negotiate any barriers to technical access.
A cellular connection allows patients to access an interactive clinical app, a feature that Gateway Rehab’s leaders say greatly enhances patient engagement. Patients are more likely to think about the resources available to them when they’re accessible at times outside the traditional appointment structure, Yorty said.
Within treatment sessions themselves, she added, patients often become willing to share more within a space where they feel most comfortable.
Yorty said that for clinicians who had worked exclusively in in-person treatment settings in the past, there was some apprehension at first about transitioning to telehealth. Maximizing opportunities for idea sharing and support among the group has proven beneficial. “They bounce ideas off each other,” Yorty said. “They are a tight-knit team.”
Gateway Rehab’s leaders also emphasize that patients and staff are benefiting on many levels from the organization’s partnership with Sigmund Software. Patients and staff have rapid access to documents, appointment reminders and assessment data, while executive leadership stresses the benefits of an API integration that is in process.
We at Sigmund are proud of our relationship with an organization that is pioneering best practices within the “digital front door” of treatment.
