You may have already come across a term (or two, or four!) that is changing the face of healthcare. Telemedicine (or telehealth, e-medicine, etc.) is the newest wave in healthcare that has changed and improved how providers are able to deliver services. Telemedicine allows providers to deliver services via a HIPAA-compliant teleconferencing software, such as Zoom. Now obviously, there are times when it is absolutely necessary to see a doctor live and in the flesh, but most of the time, our well visits and even many sick visits can be handled without having to make another appointment (because we all love those, right?). This essentially means patients are able to be seen for doctors’ visits from the comfort of their own homes. Who wouldn’t want to visit their doctor without ever having to crank up the car or put on a pair of pants? And like a beautiful symbiotic relationship, telemedicine allows providers to deliver more services and reach patients who would have potentially never made it into the office due to location, transportation, scheduling or other concerns. So as more people realize the benefits of telemedicine and the logistics of providing the services has become simplified, we are seeing more disciplines take advantage of technology to improve their service delivery.
So where does the therapy world fall when it comes to telemedicine. While slower than some other disciplines, therapist have begun to utilize teletherapy (notice the switcheroo?) into their practices for the same reasons as other practitioners; to make service delivery convenient for patients, to minimize no-shows and cancellations and to increase caseloads. But often, parents wonder how therapy is implemented using a device. Will their child experience the same progress and success? How will they build rapport with a face on a screen? But parents can rest assured because research has shown that most children do extremely well and experience the same gains using teletherapy. In addition, some children prefer teletherapy because of the increased use of technology. Many therapists enjoy providing teletherapy services because it often forces a family member to be present to ‘assist’ in therapy, and it because many therapists feel some children maintain attention better using teletherapy.
Making the decision to enroll your child in therapy can be daunting enough without the additional methods of delivery we are continuously adding for parents to consider. But our goal, as therapists, is to provide our families with as many options as possible, to ensure that their best fit will be met. Every family is different, and many families just don’t have the time or ability or make it into an office for therapy appointments and teletherapy offers them a viable solution that allows their child to achieve the same successful result. If you are interested in learning more about teletherapy, or enrolling your child, please contact us at 404-606-3755.