A lot of suicide prevention coordinators and SWers who do f/u calls to veterans who discharge from community hospitals due to SI do CSREs and safety plans primarily or exclusively over the phone but of course, this is your license and comfort level. I’ve also done my fair share over the phone as part of intakes when it became apparent more substantial risk assessment was needed and when I do, I make sure to note that this was over the phone and visual assessment was not possible.
Yup keep focused on doing PCMHI-type care for all patients as much as possible and rely on interfacility referrals. In this veteran’s case, if their preference is to maintain care with your facility while attending school elsewhere, I don’t think we are allowed to refer to another system. I knew a veteran who would pay out of pocket to fly back to a previous VA to continue their care after moving.
As for ethical concerns, make sure you document consent for telehealth and that you have reviewed benefits and limitations of this modality, their physical location during each appointment and they are aware of resources for acute MH needs (eg., the name and location of their nearest ED, 911, VCL).
As
@Sanman brought up, welfare checks and involuntary hospitalization can be dicey because each jurisdiction has their own set of rules and procedures.
Great advice to let your supervisor aware of the out of state aspect. Nationally, there is support for this (e.g., Clinical Resource Hub providers can live anywhere in the US while providing care to veterans belonging to a specific VISN) but you want to make sure admin will have your back just in case things get dicey.