Introduction:

Telepsychiatry is defined as the use of information and communication technology (ICT) in providing remote psychiatric services. Telepsychiatry is applied using two types of communication: synchronous (real time) and asynchronous (store and forward).

Objective:

To determine the cost-effectiveness of a synchronous and an asynchronous telepsychiatric model in prison inmate patients with symptoms of depression.

Methods:

A cost-effectiveness study was performed on a population consisting of 157 patients from the Establecimiento Penitenciario y Carcelario de Mediana Seguridad de Manizales, Colombia. The sample was determined by applying Zung self-administered surveys for depression (1965) and the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS), the latter being the tool used for the comparison.

Results:

Initial Hamilton score, arrival time, duration of system downtime, and clinical effectiveness variables had normal distributions (p >0.05). There were significant differences (p < 0.001) between care costs for the different models, showing that the mean cost of the asynchronous model is less than synchronous model, and making the asynchronous model more cost-effective.

Conclusions:

The asynchronous model is the most cost-effective model of telepsychiatry care for patients with depression admitted to a detention centre, according to the results of clinical effectiveness, cost measurement, and patient satisfaction.

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