Telehealth: What to Expect

Quick Overview

This summary discusses a presentation on telehealth by a team of medical professionals from the Chromosome 15 Clinic at Children’s Hospital Colorado. Telehealth, also known as telepractice, telemedicine, teletherapy, remote visits, distance visits, e-health, and virtual visits, is a method of connecting with a medical or therapy provider through a secure video conferencing platform. The team discusses the advantages of telehealth, such as convenience, access to home environment, and reduced exposure to contagious illnesses. However, they also highlight the disadvantages, including challenges with out-of-state patients, internet connection issues, and limitations in physical examinations. The team also shares a parent’s perspective on telehealth and in-person visits, and provides advice on preparing for a telehealth appointment. They emphasise the importance of a strong internet connection, appropriate equipment, and preparation of questions and necessary items for the child. The team concludes by expressing their excitement to connect with patients through telehealth.

Welcome to our guide on telehealth and what to expect. We are thrilled to be here and are grateful for the Foundation for Angelman Syndrome Therapeutics for inviting us to attend and present. Today we share our experiences of providing services from a variety of medical providers.

What is Telehealth?

Telehealth tends to have a lot of names like telepractice, telemedicine, teletherapy, remote visits, distance visits, e-health, and virtual visits. It may seem really overwhelming, but what it really is, is telehealth is connecting from your home using a computer, laptop, tablet, or smartphone to a secure video conferencing platform for a medical or therapy appointment with a provider.

The Advantages of Telehealth

As clinicians, we can have a better look at the home environment. We can see favourite toys, adaptive equipment, activities that might be harder to see in the clinic room. There can be immediate access to other family members and pets that would not be allowed in the clinic setting. It provides more convenient access to services as it eliminates drive time, the need to pack things up.

The Disadvantages of Telehealth

One of the biggest challenges of telehealth is that although we can see out-of-state families for an in-person clinic, the out-of-state we cannot see families from out-of-state on telehealth in all cases. We can do telehealth when the provider and the family is within the same state. One of the barriers to telehealth is also finding a location in the home in which the internet connection is most stable, which can take extra time.

A Parent’s Perspective on Telehealth

We were fortunate to be able to reach out to a parent to find out what their experience was. The parent responded, it’s very convenient. You don’t need to leave your home, yet you have access to all of your providers. Your child can be surrounded by their own toys and snacks and whatever else you need.

Considerations Before Scheduling a Telehealth Appointment

When you’re scheduling a telehealth appointment, it’s very important to consider what the coverage for the visit would be like, both from the perspective of insurance, but also from the perspective of the provider as well.

Preparing for a Telehealth Appointment

In order to make the most of your telehealth appointment, we encourage you to consider a few things. Do you have a strong internet connection, or would you be able to limit the number of users placing a strain on your internet during the appointment? This would mean anything that streams videos or video conferences would ideally be paused during the appointment.

We look forward to answering your questions.