How to set up telehealth at your clinic quickly and effectively!

Despite the grave difficulties seen during the recent onset of COVID-19 pandemic, I am sure that you will agree with me in that this pandemic has surely toughened our resolve,  developed our resilience and has triggered immense human creativity!  Just like you, I saw it first hand in my work too. 

COVID-19 is a lower respiratory tract infection resulting in fever and shortness of breath, among other symptoms, and is known to cause severe complications in individuals with underlying chronic, immune mediated conditions. Since I work with individuals who are elderly or have diagnosed neurological conditions, or are perinatal women, my clientele was notably affected by the pandemic.  Most of my patients were prone to developing serious complications from COVID-19 as they would easily be considered within the ‘high-risk’ category due to their medical history.  Understandably, I had to discontinue the on-site physical therapy (PT) services for my patients for their own safety.  That continued till I started to note the harmful effects of physical inactivity and lack of social interaction in my patients.  This forced me to initiate the telehealth services at our clinic in a quick, responsible and effective manner.  After reading and searching for days, me and the clinical staff were able to set up the telehealth services at our clinic in a manner that worked for us!  Read below if you are still considering whether to do physical therapy via telehealth. I have compiled a list of resources that will help you get started. 

Here’s what you should do…

(1) Determine if your institution is prepared to provide & bill for telehealth services using this detailed checklist: http://www.hpso.com/Documents/Risk%20Education/Businesses/CNA_HP17-14_060117_CF_PROD_SEC.pdf

This document has a quick checklist to determine if you are ‘Telehealth Ready’ via the telehealth readiness assessment tool. 

(2) Determine the telehealth laws and reimbursement policies in your state within the United states.

 A. Center for Connected Health Policy (CCHP) helps you stay informed about telehealth-related laws, regulations and Medicaid programs across all 50 states in the United States. Here’s the link: https://www.cchpca.org/telehealth-policy/current-state-laws-and-reimbursement-policies?jurisdiction=73&category=All&topic=All#

B. Each state’s telemedicine policies: https://evisit.com/state-telemedicine-policy

(3) Determine a secure, HIPAA compliant software platform to provide the telehealth services. Here’s a list of all available softwares that could be used for telehealth: 

1. Anywhere Healthcare	https://anywhere.healthcare	8. G-suite	https://hangouts.google.com
2. BlueJay Mobile Health	http://www.bluejayhealth.com/pricing.html	9. Neorehab	http://www.neorehab.com
3. Clocktree	https://www.clocktree.com	10. Phzio	https://phzio.com
4. Coviu	https://www.coviu.com/	11. Videotherapy	https://videotherapy.co/vt/home.php#head
5. Medbridge	https://medbridgeeducation.com	12. Vsee	https://vsee.com
6. Doxy.me	https://doxy.me	13. Zoom	https://www.zoom.us
7. eLuma onine therapy	http://www.elumatherapy.com/telehealth-	14. Enterprise video conferencing	https://www.zoom.us/pricing

(4) Check out a few additional resources to determine readiness: APTA Summary of how to implement telehealth in PT: http://www.apta.org/Telehealth/Implementation/

I have shared this information through several outlets and feel the need to share it here too. Hope they are useful. Happy to hear your thoughts on the set up and implementation of telehealth at your institution! Provide comments below.

Written by:

Hina Garg

PT, MS, PhD, NCS, CEEAA

Associate professor

MS PT & Wellness Center Director

Rocky Mountain University of Health Professions