What is tele-therapy?

Tele-therapy is a form of synchronous treatment available for Speech, Language, Occupational and Physical Therapies. Many of the same things you would do during an in-office session are available via tele-therapy. Think about Skype, FaceTime or video teleconferencing. You can now have effective, two- or three- way treatment sessions on your desktop, laptop, tablet or phone. Tele-therapy can offer a flexible element to your care plan with equally effective results. In fact, researchers at California-based Kaiser Permanente analyzed 201,383 scheduled video visits between 2015 and 2017, involving 152,809 patients, and found that 93 percent of patients who responded to the survey said the connected care encounter met their needs.

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (2001), defines telemedicine as “the use of telecommunications technology for the medical diagnostic, monitoring, and therapeutic purposes when distances separated the users.”

Delivery of Speech Therapy,  Occupational Therapy and Physical Therapy  Telepractice will be documented, in the patient chart, in the usual manner for the delivery of speech therapy and occupational therapy services, as described in this policy. Additional documentation is required when providing telemedicine. 

Telemedicine/Telepractice/Telehealth/Tele-therapy:

Telehealth is the expansion of telemedicine to include application across the full spectrum of the health sciences, including, but not limited to, audiology, speech-language pathology, nursing, occupational therapy, physical therapy, pharmacy, physical education and health promotion, and dentistry and dental hygiene, in addition to medicine (Bashshur, Reardon, & Shannon, 2000; Books, Sun Boal, Poropatich, & Abbott, 2002; Burgess et al., 1999; Eikelboom, Atlas, Mbao, & Gallop, 2002; Hassol et all., 1996; Mun & Turner, 1999). Speech therapy and occupation therapy telemedicine is Synchronous Telemedicine Services, which involve interactive, electronic information exchange in at least two directions at the same time, usually clinician to patient or clinician to clinician.

American Speech Language Hearing Association (ASHA): 

The American Speech Language Hearing Association (ASHA) defines telepractice as: “the application of telecommunications technology to delivery of professional services at a distance by linking clinician to client, or clinician to clinician, for assessment, intervention, and/or consultation.” 

“Telepractice is an appropriate model of service delivery for the professions of speech-language pathology (and audiology). Telepractice may be used to overcome barriers of access to services caused by distance, unavailability of specialists and/or sub-specialists and impaired mobility.”

Telepractice offers “the potential to extend clinical services to remote, rural, and undeserved populations, and to culturally and linguistically diverse populations.”

“The use of telepractice does not remove any existing responsibilities in delivering services, including adherence to the Code of Ethics, Scope of Practice, state and federal laws (e.g. licensure, HIPAA, etc.) and ASHA policy documents on professional practices.”

Therefore, “the quality of services delivered via telepractice must be consistent with the quality of services delivered face-to-face.”

Call (703) 239-7336 or email today to find out if tele-therapy is right for your family.