Resolving Barriers to Licensure Portability for Telerehabilitation Professionals
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5195/ijt.2011.6078Abstract
Rehabilitation professionals (e.g., audiologists, occupational therapists, physical therapists, speech-language pathologists, etc.) can only engage in telerehabilitation in states in which they hold a professional license. The current state-based licensure and regulation of rehabilitation professionals does not facilitate the practice of telerehabilitation across state lines. Given today’s equipment capabilities and consumer adoption of the electronic delivery of many kinds of services, health care providers, including rehabilitation professionals, should be able to serve clients wherever they are needed.
References
Endnotes
i The terminology used to describe such delivery varies (e.g., “telerehabilitation,” “telemedicine,” “telehealth,” “telepractice,” and “e-health”).
ii Telerehabilitation Special Interest Group on Telerehabilitation, A Blueprint of Telerehabilitation Guidelines, http://www.americantelemed.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageID=3311 or: doi: 10.5195/ijt.2010.6063.
iii Second Report from the Health Care Practice Taskforce to the State Alliance for E-Health
October 3, 2007 , financed by funds from the US Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONCHIT) under a contract with the National Governors Association for the State Alliance for e-Health.” http://www.nga.org/files/live/sites/NGA/files/pdf/0710EHEALTHHCPREPORT.PDF
iv Connecting America: The National Broadband Plan, http://www.broadband.gov/plan/. Released March 17, 2010.
v www.hrsa.gov/ruralhealth/about/telehealth/licenserpt10.pdf
ISSN 1945-2020 (online)
