Publication date: Jul 24, 2026
Telepsychiatry expanded rapidly during the COVID-19 pandemic to support continuity of psychiatric care, although its long-term durability following the expiration of pandemic-era policies remains uncertain. This study evaluated long-term utilization of telepsychiatry and patient and clinician acceptability within outpatient practice. A repeated cross-sectional electronic health record analysis of outpatient psychiatric visits from 2020 to 2025 compared in-person and virtual visit completion and no-show rates across five annual intervals. Telepsychiatry acceptability was evaluated through a patient survey administered in 2021-2022 (n = 655) and clinician surveys conducted in 2020 (n = 50) and 2025 (n = 38). Among 219,007 visits, 44% were in-person and 56% were virtual. The overall no-show rate was 10. 46%, with no significant difference between visit types (p = 0. 178). Two intervals demonstrated significant differences: 2021-2022 (virtual = 9. 6%, in-person = 11. 0%, p
| Concepts | Keywords |
|---|---|
| Academic | COVID-19 |
| Covid | health services utilization |
| Outpatient | outpatient psychiatry |
| Spearman | telehealth |
| telepsychiatry | |
| virtual visits |
Semantics
| Type | Source | Name |
|---|---|---|
| disease | MESH | COVID-19 |
| disease | MESH | Emergency |