President’s Message
(May 21, 2020)
Dear Members:
The one certainty in my life right now, and I imagine in many of your lives is that change is a constant force shaping each day. The pandemic has forced me to increase my adaptability to the changes that I encounter daily. In this same manner, APTA Indiana is constantly responding and changing what we do to assist our members. Just as we adapted in early April to providing services using telemedicine, we are now considering the consequences if this goes away too soon. I have heard from many across the state, the challenges that exist for patients who need physical therapy services in person. .
What we do know is as long as the public health emergency is in place and the Governor does not issue another Executive Order (EO) cancelling telemedicine, telemedicine will continue to be a viable mode of care delivery. APTA Indiana is working with a number of other allied healthcare associations to request that the public health emergency extends into 2021 or if the public health emergency ceases, for the Governor to create a new EO allowing physical therapists in Indiana to provide telemedicine until 2021.
In order to provide data to support the position that telemedicine needs to continue, I would really value, if the area of outpatient therapy applies to you, your taking 5 minutes to complete a survey about clinics reopening, the volume of patients being seen in person for physical therapy, etc..
This data will support the position that telemedicine needs to continue until 2021 when we will introduce legislation to have telehealth added to the Indiana Physical Therapy Practice Act.
Thank you again to all of you out there who are doing remarkable things, which are reflecting so positively on our physical therapy profession.
Emily
Emily Slaven, PT, PhD, Board-Certified Clinical Specialist in Orthopaedic Physical Therapy President, APTA Indiana