Question

Technology has become an important tool when assessing and treating mental illness.

List three ways that technology is used to provide better care and treatment for those with mental health issues.

How effective has HIPPA been in assuring that technology does not take away a patient’s rights? Are there improvements that can be made? Why or why not?

Answer 1

Three of the important ways in which technology is used to provide better care and treatment for those with mental health issues:

1. Virtual Reality Treatment

This technique is also called exposure therapy which is designed to help patients relive trauma related phenomena in a safe and controlled environment such a clinic. This helps patients become habituated with incident and it helps lessening the anxiety related to the particular past event. This is queit a new technique and some trained clinicians in U.S. currently use it in their practice.   

2)      Mobile Apps

Some popular areas of app usage are:

Self Management Apps- they are used for feedbacks like medicine intake reminders or developing tools to manage stress or sleep problem etc

Apps to improve thinking skills-these apps are generally targeted towards people with grave mental disorders

Illness Management, Supported care- these apps allow extra support by allowing interaction with other people

3)      Online therapies

Therapy sessions through videos or other similar means are boon to people who cannot reach their psychologist for lack of time or resources or who cannot be brought to the clinic.

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The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 develops regulations protecting the privacy and security of certain health information through Department of Health and Human Services U.S. HIPPA is very strong is safeguarding rights of patients. HIPP can become more patient friendly by making below improvements:

-          Making record retention easier for patients whose doctors stop practicing

-          Reducing the time frame for covered entities to deliver patient’s requested records from 30 days