Psychologist, Educator, Change-Maker Professor Antonio Puente addresses the pandemic from a different perspective By Tricia Vance
In March, as he prepared to push his classes and research meetings online, UNCW Professor of Psychology Antonio Puente was simultaneously working with other advocates at the national level to persuade Medicare and other insurers to cover telephone-based mental and behavioral health care. In his role as a psychologist and an ambassador of the White House PREVENTS task force addressing the emerging national and behavioral health epidemic as a result of COVID-19, Puente is particularly concerned that suicides and opioid addiction will worsen as the pandemic continues.
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After the onset of the pandemic and the subsequent shutdown of many businesses and services, “the only way we could reach many of our clients was through telephone,” said Puente, who is also a practicing psychologist and founder of the mental health section at the nonprofit, multidisciplinary Cape Fear Health Clinic. He worked with a small group from the American Psychological Association to create a telehealth system. Medicare approved the coverage, and other insurers followed. “Medicare rose up quickly, and unbelievably,” he said. “Something like this takes us, on average, five years to accomplish.”
