Telehealth

Occupational Therapy Associates Telehealth Consultation

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OTA has initiated a telehealth consultation capability for our clients. While our services are typically delivered in our patients’ home, the current COVID-19 pandemic and social distancing restrictions have resulted in the need for an innovative approach to treatment. As such, Occupational Therapy Associates is using technology and our remote capabilities to continue to offer Occupational Therapy services. 

Our telehealth service can be booked online. Upon booking, you will receive an email with the link to our video conferencing services. We use ZOOM video conferencing for our consults and all service is provided at a standard charge. That charge is currently $75.00 per hour. 

Many of our clients have asked us exactly what telehealth is and how delivering services via telehealth is viewed by the medical community. You can read more below or review recent articles at our Resources page.

What is telehealth?

Telehealth is a collection of means or methods for enhancing health care, public health and health education delivery and support using telecommunications technologies. 

Telehealth encompasses a broad variety of technologies and tactics to deliver virtual medical, health, and education services. Telehealth is not a specific service, but a collection of means to enhance care and education delivery.

CCHP and other members of the National Consortium of Telehealth Resource Centers finalized a Telehealth Definition Framework to help policy makers, practitioners, payers, and the public understand how to accurately apply “telehealth” and its key components.

Telehealth or Telemedicine

“Telemedicine” is often still used when referring to traditional clinical diagnosis and monitoring that is delivered by technology. However, the term “Telehealth” is now more commonly used as it describes the wide range of diagnosis and management, education, and other related fields of health care. These include, but are not at all limited to:

“Telemedicine” is often still used when referring to traditional clinical diagnosis and monitoring that is delivered by technology. However, the term “Telehealth” is now more commonly used as it describes the wide range of diagnosis and management, education, and other related fields of health care. These include, but are not at all limited to:

Telehealth or Telemedicine

State & federal agencies often differ on how they define telehealth. For example, California law defines telehealth as:

“The mode of delivering health care services and public health via information and communication technologies to facilitate the diagnosis, consultation, treatment, education, care management, and self-management of a patient’s health care while the patient is at the originating site and the health care provider is at a distant site. Telehealth facilitates patient self-management and caregiver support for patients and includes synchronous interactions and asynchronous store-an- forward transfers.”

Meanwhile, the federal Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) defines telehealth as:

“The use of electronic information and telecommunications technologies to support long-distance clinical health care, patient and professional health-related education, public health and health administration.”

These varying definitions influence the policies and regulations surrounding how telehealth is allowed to be used, and these policies vary as much across states as the definitions themselves. CCHP’s free, interactive map of telehealth policies can help clarify the confusion with updated information according to eleven distinct categories of telehealth related laws, regulations, and state Medicaid policies.