Newly published research by Harvard Medical School and the RAND Corporation reveals a dramatic growth in the use of telemedicine for the diagnosis and treatment of mental health disorders in rural areas, but strikingly uneven distribution of services across states.

The results, published in Health Affairs, stem from analysis of telemedicine use among Medicare beneficiaries nationwide over10 years.

The study shows an average 45 percent jump per year in telemedicine visits between 2004 and 2014, among rural patients, with striking variation across states. Four states had no such visits in 2014, while in nine states, there were more than 25 telemedicine visits per 100 patients with serious mental illness.

The reasons for the dramatically uneven distribution remain unclear, but the study investigators say state laws that regulate the provision and reimbursement of telemedicine services for mental health appear to play some role.

“Our results highlight the growing importance of telemedicine in the treatment of mental health disorders in rural settings where access to mental health care is often problematic,” said study lead investigator Ateev Mehrotra, associate professor in the Department of Health Care Policy at Harvard Medical School.

Harvard Health Publications, the consumer health education division of Harvard Medical School, today announced a licensing relationship that will deliver a new series of Q&A videos to clinicians and patients at the point of care. This relationship will put the medical knowledge and expertise of Harvard Medical School faculty into brief videos that clinicians using vidscrip can share with their patients on the vidscrip platform.

“This relationship will put answers to patients’ most commonly-asked questions in front of patients at the point of care in a way that supports the clinician-patient relationship,” said Dr. Gregory Curfman, Editor in Chief.

Information about health conditions, diagnostic tests and surgical procedures, self-care and prevention as well as public health topics will be authored and recorded by Harvard Medical School faculty using a combination of video, audio, still images, and text. Harvard Health Publications and vidscrip plan to launch up to 30 question sets this year, starting with topic areas related to population health management and the industry’s shift to value based care.