Emerging technologies have the potential to push psychiatry into a new era of evidence-based care, with improved treatment and access. During a presentation about the future of psychiatry at a meeting of mental health professionals, Arshya Vahabzadeh, MD, asked his audience to raise their hands if they were already practicing telepsychiatry. Scattered around the packed convention center ballroom, just a dozen or a few more participants raised their hands. "Telepsychiatry is booming," said Vahabzadeh, the chief medical officer of Brain Power, a neuroscience tech startup that makes artificial intelligence (AI)–based, gamified wearables for people with developmental disorders, like autism, or other brain conditions. More hands would be in the air at the next meeting, he said.

Patients and their families often want continuous monitoring and care. Traditional health insurance providers are partnering with telehealth companies, to address those concerns. Anthem is working with American Well, Cigna is working with MDLive, Bupa is working with Babylon Health and Aflac is working with MeMD to deliver benefits of telehealth to it's existing customers. Health insurance providers such as Oscar Health is redefining health-insurance by building the whole customer experience around its own telehealth services. As telehealth continues to replace traditional health care, it is going to inherit some of its challenges. These include increased cost of care due to multiple vendors, complex care pathways, and government policies. However, the question that remains to be answered is will this advanced technology that we call telehealth, be able to redefine the quality, equity and affordability of healthcare throughout the world.