Telehealth Delivery of Physical Therapy: How a Hands on Profession Can Provide Quality Care Remotely

Digital health technology is growing at a rapid rate and has been shown to improve access to health care, timeliness and quality of care. It has been shown to reduce healthcare costs, improve population health and is highly satisfying to health care consumers. The COVID-19 pandemic exposed our profession’s lack of readiness to provide high quality telehealth interventions. Telehealth physical therapy brings unique treatment considerations. This session will discuss regulatory, legislative and technological considerations for implementing professionalism in a digital physical therapy practice. Differences to be highlighted between in-person and digital physical therapy with emphasis on safety and determining appropriateness for remote care. Techniques will be described for performing a remote evaluation including “webside” manner, improving patient engagement, demonstrating professionalism and providing excellent customer service. Methods will be discussed regarding execution of the care plan including the use of synchronous and asynchronous technology to optimize the patient outcomes and communication.