Living Without Boundaries approach to Occupational Therapy service provision:
Living Without Boundaries has opted to use a “Hybrid” model approach to service provision within the community. Telehealth is offered to all clients with the intention of increasing accessibility to Occupational Therapy supports, and enabling increased access to those within remote settings.
Living Without Boundaries has chosen to use the platform, “Coviu” to provide healthcare remotely using video consultation software or, failing that, a telephone call. Occupational Therapy provided in this way must still meet all the quality controls that apply to in-person care such as complying with privacy regulations and maintaining appropriate records.
Australia and the world have encountered increased demand for online Telehealth services due to Covid-19, and our Occupational Therapists are skilled in delivery services via a Telehealth platform.
Statistics regarding the growth of Telehealth are provided from the Coviu website:
Telehealth Overview 2020 – 2021
- Australia hit 40 million telehealth consultations by November 2020.
- 10 million telehealth services had been delivered to 3.2 million Australians in regional, rural and remote areas by November 2020.
- 25% of all MBS consultations were through telehealth from March 2020 -March 2021.
- In March 2021, 93% of MBS telehealth consultations were by phone with just 7% by video.
- 56 million MBS telehealth services were delivered to 13.6 million patients with over $2.9 billion Medicare benefits paid from March 2020 – April 2021.
- More than 83,540 providers now offer telehealth services.
Advantages of Telehealth
For our clients, telehealth’s advantages include:
- Convenient Occupational Therapy support without leaving home or the office – helpful for busy people, those who live far from their care team or those for whom travel is difficult due to age or disability
- Greater choice of healthcare providers since geographical proximity no longer matters
- Increases access to Occupational Therapy supports since geographical proximity no longer matters
- Removing the risks involved in transmission of Covid-19
- Telehealth offers access to a continuum of care for you and your family when there are challenges in getting to clinic for face to face supports.