Zoom In For Telehealth
Telemedicine, also known as telehealth, is an exciting way to receive the medical care we may otherwise avoid during times of stay-at-home guidelines. The majority of patients who have used telemedicine are convinced that this just might be the wave of the future in healthcare.
Patients have been pleasantly surprised at how easy and actually enjoyable it is to use telemedicine. This is a good way to avoid the stress of worrying about exposure to a virus of any kind and let’s face it – you don’t even have to put on shoes for the doctor appointment if you don’t feel like it and you certainly don’t have to drive to a medical office.
Telemedicine lends itself quite well to physical therapy by allowing the physical therapist to have a chance to see how the patient is able to do the therapy in a home environment. (Is there enough space to do the therapy or is a chair or rail at just the right height?) The patient is generally excited to have the input of the physical therapist to receive any helpful pointers on how to follow through on what they learned at the in-office appointment. Many patients have found that they can use a combination of in-office and telemedicine appointments. Each appointment itself lasts for the same amount of time or may vary whether the patient and doctor meet in the office or via the internet. The time and stress of getting ready for an in-person appointment as well as the drives to and from the appointments also factor into the positive reactions from patients.
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Effective May 2020, Medicare approved telemedicine appointments for reimbursement for Physical Therapists and Physical Therapy Assistants. Most major health insurance providers are following Medicare decisions on telemedicine with same co-pays and deductibles. However, for individuals with high deductibles telemedicine is also available at a reasonable cash pay rate.
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In order to arrange for a telemedicine appointment, simply call Physical Therapy Doctors at 970-532-2533 or fill out the Schedule Appointment request online and we will verify payment information and set a convenient time for you to experience a telemedicine appointment. At that time, the patient will be given easy instructions to download Zoom. A HIPPA compliant, medically safe, encrypted link will be emailed within 24 hours to you to connect via tablet or computer for your appointment!