PRESIDENT DUNN OF APTA NOTES THE “NECESSITY” OF TELEHEALTH DURING COVID-19 OUTBREAK

In a letter to the physical therapy community, Dr. Sharon Dunn, President of the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA), noted the seriousness of the COVID-19 pandemic, the uncertainty surrounding the situation, as well as the tough decisions physical therapy professionals are facing every day.¹ While the CDC has not issued recommendations specific to physical therapists, Dr. Dunn refers to guidelines from the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on surgical procedures when she writes, “Fundamental to those recommendations is the notion that some care needs are immediate, and some are not. That’s true for surgery, and for physical therapy.”²

On the path forward, Dr. Dunn says, “We are going through this together, day by day, doing our best to make a positive impact on society in a moment in time when there are no easy solutions.”

In the second half of her letter, the APTA President lists her hopes as we navigate this pandemic. Notably, she hopes for broad-based access:

“I hope that this disruption to our health care system will prove once and for all the necessity of broad-based access to our services, including telehealth, and that the primitive barriers APTA has spent years advocating to remove will finally start to fall.”

Medical professionals, physical therapists, and government leaders are all recognizing the importance of telehealth and its role in increasing access to medical care. It was just last week that the Trump Administration announced plans to expand Medicare Telehealth coverage.

Technology is enabling people in a variety of industries to continue their work without endangering the people with whom they work. In the physical therapy space, remote patient monitoring technology, like TracPatch, allows therapists to remain at home while monitoring their patients’ recovery process. Similarly, TracPatch enables total knee replacement patients to stay home and know that their surgeon and physical therapist can keep track of their recovery process without needing office visits.

In these uncertain times, equipping your practice’s patients with TracPatch allows for care to continue without subjecting medical professionals or patients to the dangers of human contact during this pandemic. For more information, contact our team today.

References

1. Letter From President Dunn on COVID-19 Impact. (2020, March 20). Retrieved March 25, 2020, from http://www.apta.org/Coronavirus/PresidentLetter/
2. CMS Adult Elective Surgery and Procedure Recommendations: Limit all non-essential planned surgeries and procedures, including dental, until further notice. (2020, March 15). Retrieved March 25, 2020, from https://www.cms.gov/files/document/31820-cms-adult-elective-surgery-and-procedures-recommendations.pdf