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Harvard canceled psychiatry appointments for students through TimelyCare — a telehealth platform that provides free mental health services — for the month of September because the University hit a contractual limit on annual visits.
Students who had already scheduled TimelyCare appointments for September were offered the option to transition to Harvard University Health Services’ Counseling and Mental Health Services psychiatrists for the month.
According to HUHS spokesperson Tiffanie A. Green, students will once again be able to book psychiatric appointments through TimelyCare beginning in October.
Harvard’s partnership with the TimelyCare platform, which began in 2022, provides each student who has paid the Student Health Fee with up to 12 therapy sessions, limited psychiatry appointments, and unlimited counseling sessions every academic year.
But the University’s contract with TimelyCare includes only a limited number of total psychiatric visits each academic year — and that cap was reached in July.
The pause on TimelyCare psychiatry appointments took students who use the service by surprise.
A senior at Harvard College who was trying to schedule a psychiatric appointment on TimelyCare after an initial consultation last semester received a “service not available” message on the TimelyCare portal. When the student — who was granted anonymity to discuss sensitive medical information — called the TimelyCare customer support line, they were informed that Harvard had run out of its allotted number of psychiatry appointments.
In a subsequent email, which the student shared with The Crimson, a TimelyCare psychiatry care manager told them that “due to a limited number of available visits, psychiatry appointments will not be offered in September.”
The manager added that a “small number” of appointments are reserved for students with “urgent needs.”
Appointments for sessions with therapists through TimelyCare will still be available throughout September. But students seeking support from psychiatrists, medical doctors who can prescribe psychiatric medications, will have to turn elsewhere.
Green wrote in a statement that “CAMHS clinical staff works in partnership with TimelyCare clinical staff on an ongoing basis to ensure there are no gaps in care for patients.”
CAMHS services, like TimelyCare, are free to students who pay the Student Health Fee, and all students can schedule initial consultations with CAMHS through the HUHS Patient Portal.
A junior at Harvard College who has been seeing a TimelyCare psychiatrist since last fall said they booked an appointment last semester for the beginning of September.
They received an email on Aug. 27 from a TimelyCare psychiatry care manager notifying them that their September appointment was canceled. The student was notified in the email that their TimelyCare appointment would be transitioned to a CAMHS psychiatrist and was contacted the next day by a CAMHS access clinician regarding the transition.
The junior, who was also granted anonymity to discuss medical information, said that they preferred TimelyCare visits, as they can usually schedule an appointment a week or two in advance compared to CAMHS’ longer wait times.
The senior who was unable to book a September appointment said they were concerned that temporarily transferring services to CAMHS would lead to an interruption in their care because psychiatrists are not “interchangeable.”
“For someone like me who’s taking medication and has somebody who’s familiar with my situation over the course of many months, I can’t just meet with a CAMHS psychiatrist because it’s not the same person who understands my situation,” said the student.
—Staff writer Annabel M. Yu can be reached at annabel.yu@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @annabelmyu.
—Staff writer Sheerea X. Yu can be reached at sheerea.yu@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @_shuhree_.
