The Alaska Psychiatric Institute has started a service providing videoconferenced mental health services targeting more than 200 small health care sites around Alaska, the state said. The service is funded by a $221,000 federal grant. The service is staffed by a mental health clinician and an adult psychiatrist, with a teen and child psychiatrist available one day a month, the state said.

Nurse practitioners, physician assistants and other primary care providers in remote communities can request a same-day videoconference appointment for their patients. They also can consult on patient cases involving mental health and substance-use issues, the state said.

"By providing behavioral health care before patients' needs become so dire that they must come to urban centers, we are providing better care more quickly and without the trauma and cost of having to leave home for treatment," said Ron Adler, API chief executive.

API hopes the service can become self-sustaining after the federal grant is spent.

For more information, go to www.hss.state.ak.us/dbh/api/remote_access.htm.