By Stephanie Gangemi, PhD, LCSW, CCHP
In recent years, telehealth has moved from a rare convenience to an essential component of health systems. In correctional settings, that shift has been even more consequential. People who are incarcerated face barriers to timely, high-quality care, especially in rural areas or when in need of specialty services. Facilities also contend with chronic staffing shortages, security constraints, and the real costs – human and financial – of transporting patients to outside appointments.
A new NCCHC position statement, Telehealth in Correctional Facilities, responds to these realities with a clear message: telehealth can meaningfully enhance access and quality, when it is used appropriately and implemented with strong ethical safeguards. The position statement calls for telehealth that bolsters equity in care access and quality, while protecting patient autonomy and confidentiality, delivered by qualified health care professionals with appropriate training and legal eligibility to practice.
In other words: telehealth should serve to expand access, while prioritizing training, quality, clinical judgment, and patient rights.
Telehealth offers correctional health systems practical solutions to persistent obstacles. By reducing the need for off-site transportation, telehealth can speed up diagnosis and treatment, reduce duplicated services, and cut overhead costs, while also bringing specialty expertise into facilities and regions that may have limited clinician-to-patient ratios. Telehealth can enhance safety by limiting external transports and reducing patient, staff, and public safety risks associated with moving patients outside the facility.
It can also reduce harms tied to transport practices such as the physical and psychological risks of restraints, which can be especially distressing for patients with mental health needs. And for chronic illness care, telehealth can support more consistent and responsive monitoring and follow-up for conditions prevalent in incarcerated populations.
This position statement was developed to present the benefits, challenges, and risks of telehealth. In addition to the aforementioned benefits, implementation can be complicated by licensure requirements across jurisdictions, technology and connectivity limitations, and the difficulty of ensuring privacy and confidentiality in carceral environments. The statement also warns against inappropriate or overextended use – when cost-containment pressures or staffing constraints can push telehealth into situations where in-person evaluation is necessary.
Key Points and Recommendations
The position statement consolidates evidence-informed guidance into actionable implementation priorities, including:
- Developing clear, written telehealth policies
- Engaging stakeholders
- Building a strong quality assurance program
- Training providers and ensure credentialing
- Advocating and investing in research
NCCHC also elevates core ethical requirements: for vulnerable correctional health care patients, telehealth must be voluntary, grounded in informed consent, and include privacy protections equivalent to in-person care, with attention to equitable access. Care delivered via telehealth must meet the same standards as in-person encounters, including timely in-person evaluation for urgent or emergent conditions.
Telehealth is a powerful tool, but in correctional settings, attention to the guardrails that protect patient choice, privacy, and clinical quality is vital. NCCHC’s new position statement offers a practical framework for programs that want telehealth to improve access, safety, and continuity.
Our hope is that correctional health leaders, clinicians, and policymakers will review the position statement on telehealth and use it to strengthen policies, training, quality monitoring, and ethical practice, so telehealth can expand care for the people who need it most.
See all the NCCHC position statements here.
Stephanie Gangemi, PhD, LCSW, CCHP, is assistant professor in the Department of Social Work at the University of Colorado – Colorado Springs and a member of NCCHC’s Policy and Research Committee.
