Telehealth to Play a Critical Role in Post-Pandemic Outpatient Rehab Therapy

It can be difficult to overstate the sizable impact telehealth had in providing patients with safe and (as we’re continuing to learn) effective healthcare options during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This influence of telehealth was felt by patients seeking a wide range of healthcare services including physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech-language pathology.

It all came about because the pandemic largely forced both practitioners and patients to set their hesitations aside and charge forward in the spirit of exploration, innovation and wellness. This change of mindset allowed virtual treatments to become more commonplace over the last two-plus years than ever before in healthcare.

The numbers tell a compelling story not just of the growth of telehealth, but its potential staying power as the pandemic wanes:

• During just the first year of the pandemic, telehealth visits for Medicare Part B patients increased 63-fold, from 840,000 in 2019 to 52.7 million in 2020.¹
• The percentage of people who say they plan (or planned) to utilize telehealth services in 2022, broken down by generation, includes 73% of Gen Z (18-24), 83% of Millennials (25-40), 68% of Gen X (41-56), and 51% of Baby Boomers (57-75).²
• This year – more than two years from the start of the pandemic – 38% of patients have received care via telehealth one or more times.³

Exceed Marketing Demands with Telehealth Integration

We at Net Health® have recently announced a partnership with BetterHealthcare – creator of the telehealth solution BetterAccess – that will allow outpatient and private practice rehab therapists to meet and exceed these evolving market demands for telehealth services.

BetterAccess is a cloud-based, HIPAA-compliant telehealth solution that now seamlessly integrates with our Net Health® Therapy for Clinics EHR solution, enabling outpatient rehab therapy clinics to provide virtual services in physical, occupational and speech therapy.

By more seamlessly and securely allowing providers to offer virtual care to their patients, those utilizing the BetterAccess + Net Health® Therapy for Clinics telehealth integration can more sufficiently support growth by offering a wider variety of services to a greater mix of patient populations.

This may include:

• Patients who reside in traditionally underserved areas and populations.
• People with limited mobility and/or transportation options.
• Businesses, organizations, professions and groups (i.e, employers, first-responders, etc.) seeking injury/accident prevention training and/or triage services.
• Improving patients’ experience with higher levels of patient engagement outside the clinic, either through virtual check-ins, one-on-one home exercise demos, and even full appointments.

In addition, BetterAccess provides an optimal solution for rehab therapists planning for the end of the current Public Health Emergency (PHE). This is when providers of virtual care will be required to use a telehealth solution that’s secure and HIPAA-compliant.

To learn more about BetterAccess and how it seamlessly integrates with the Net Health® Therapy for Clinics EHR solution, schedule a demo today!

REFERENCES:
¹ JAMA Network, “Increased Use of Medicare Telehealth During the Pandemic,” January 25, 2022
² Insider Intelligence, “US Telehealth User Statistics and Forecast for 2022,” March 2, 2022
³ mHealth Intelligence, “38% of Patients Have Received Virtual Care in 2022,” March 4, 2022