Document Type
Poster
Date
2025
Abstract
Purpose:
This report was developed to capture insights from clinicians, patients, and families who have experienced or delivered telehealth services over the past four years. The rapid rise of telehealth during the COVID-19 pandemic presented both challenges and opportunities, but as the initial surge subsided, its continued application in physical therapy has become less clear. This report explores what has worked well in telerehabilitation, identifies ongoing challenges, and provides actionable recommendations to bridge gaps in service delivery. By reflecting on these experiences, this work aims to inform the development of sustainable models that will advance clinical practice, improve patient outcomes, and support policy development moving forward.
Description:
This project aimed to build capacity and understanding across clinical teams, patients, and caregivers around the use of telerehabilitation as a sustainable, patient-centered model of care. Recognizing that patients are the ultimate recipients of care, the initiative prioritized patient engagement, experience, equity, and outcomes as key components of value in telerehabilitation delivery.
Summary of Use:
Over a 12-month period, we convened a multidisciplinary team of clinical stakeholders and patient partners to identify evidence-based telerehabilitation practices in a remote service delivery model and how these are implemented. The project included retrospective patient demographic review, stakeholder discussion settings, and quarterly reflection meetings. This initiative fostered shared learning between patients and providers and emphasized care strategies tailored to the unique needs of individuals in underserved communities. Key themes to emerge were primarily in regards to education—educating and equipping providers to more effectively and confidently deliver care via telehealth, educating clinics on the benefits of giving their patients a choice between in person or hybrid care, and educating patient populations/communities on the availability of telehealth services.
Importance to Members:
Healthcare providers are increasingly using digital health technologies to expand and modify care delivery. In the right applications, these tools can advance quality of care, provide clinician support, speed access to services, increase patient engagement, and reduce overall spending. The stakeholder group discussions has created an opportunity to pursue patient-centered comparative effectiveness research (CER) to evaluate traditional versus telerehabilitation service delivery models—ultimately aiming to improve access, quality, and outcomes for underserved populations.
References and Narrative:
See download document for references and narrative.
Recommended Citation
Siu, Ka-Chun; Dexter, Brad; Lindemeier, Andrew; Hux, Karen; and Aggarwal, Dipika, "Building Community-Engaged Capacity to Advance Telerehabilitation Services for Patients with Chronic Disease and/or Disability" (2025). Posters and Presentations: Physical Therapy. 49.
https://digitalcommons.unmc.edu/cahp_pt_pres/49
Abstract, references, and narrative
Comments
This work was supported by the Great Plains IDeA-CTR Community-Academic Partnership (CAP) Program.