US-based integrated health system Tufts Medicine has collaborated with Synchronous Health, an evidence-based behavioural healthcare services provider, to enhance access to behavioural healthcare throughout Eastern Massachusetts.

By providing quick and accessible care, the collaboration seeks to give patients' mental health priority along with their physical health.

This alliance will leverage a digital platform that incorporates the Karla AI-powered bot to provide interventions from the care plan at times and locations where patients require support.

According to a statement, the partnership will address the increasing demand for behavioural health care, which has been amplified by factors such as the Covid-19 pandemic.

Synchronous Health connects patients with therapists through scheduled telehealth appointments.

Its AI bot, Karla, provides personalised guidance, coping strategies, and resources tailored to each patient's needs between therapy sessions.

Tufts Medicine Integrated Network, comprising more than 2,300 physicians, will have access to this collaborative telehealth offering.

Tufts Medicine paediatrician Dr Megan Cardoso said: "This partnership with Synchronous Health improves access to certified, qualified therapists to my patients, which previously would have been a one-to-three month wait for kids in crisis.

"In addition, having the Synchronous therapists embedded into our systems means that we can have real-time conversations about patients we are worried about, or who are doing well.

"When we started, many were worried about the telehealth platform, but the truth is that most of my paediatric patients and their families have embraced telehealth and the ability to interact with a therapist in their own comfortable home setting.

"They trust that their doctors are working with these therapists to take the best possible care of them."