Clinical Guidelines for Telebehavioral Health

Clinical guidelines for Telebehavioral health can be difficult to find as there are many terms for the same mode of providing clinical service over HIPAA-secure technology to clients or patients.

It is important to note that Telebehavioral Health is a mode of providing mental and substance abuse services and is not a separate service in and of itself. This mode requires specific training, preparation and protocols to provide safe, effective, legal and ethical clinical services.

Telebehavioral health clinical guidelines may be found in:

  • State license regulations and tate guidance – Each state and each profession may be different.
  • Profession-specific Code of Ethics – Each profession has their own set of guidelines and state license regulations often require adherence to these Codes of Ethics.
  • Reimbursement requirements – Payors may require certain types of technology (i.e. HIPAA-secure) and only permit certain practices and locations.
  • Telemedicine industry best practices for adults and adolescents.

It is also important to note that guidelines are very different for medical and non-medical services. The directory below includes many types of telebehavioral health clinical guidelines separated by profession.

Information Relevant to Clinical Guidelines:

Title
NAADAC Code of Ethics Revisions 2021
Telehealth for the Treatment of Serious Mental Illness and Substance Use Disorders 2021
AMHCA Code of Ethics Revised 2020
Telehealth and the Opioid Epidemic: Protecting Safety and Promoting Health 2018
APA ATA Best Practices in Videoconferencing Based Telemental Health 2018
Telepsychiatry Toolkit
ATA Children & Adolescents Guidelines-2017
Telebehavioral Health Implementation checklist – Indian TBHCE
ATA Operating Procedures for Pediatric Telehealth 2017
NBCC Policy Regarding Practice of Distance Professional Services 2016
Telepsychiatry with Children and Adolescents
AAMFT Code of Ethics 2015
ACA Code of Ethics 2014