Dear Patient & Therapist,

We have an important update regarding telehealth services:

Based on recent developments, we will begin employing telehealth services for treatment provided by full licensed speech language pathologists and occupational therapists starting on Monday, March 30th until June 30th 2020 (may be subject to change). It is important to note that not all insurances are approved. In addition, physical therapist & physical therapist assistants can on a more limited basis provide telehealth depending on the insurances involved. Please review the info. below for a comprehensive update: 

  • Clinicians who must begin providing telehealth on Monday, March 30th: 

  • Full Licensed Speech Language Pathologists

  • Full Licensed Occupational Therapists

  • We will allow you to determine telehealth for the following on a case by case basis:

    • Evaluations

    • Any visits you consider a face to face to be absolutely essential.

  • Telehealth CANNOT be employed for the following:

  • Feeding Therapy Interventions. (All Interventions of this type must continue to be done in person). 

  • Approved Insurances for Full Licensed SLP & OT Services

  • Parkland Medicaid

  • Amerigroup Medicaid

  • Aetna Medicaid

  • Children's Medical Center Health Plan

  • United HealthCare Medicaid

  • Cook Childrens 

  • In addition, Physical Therapist & Physical Therapist Assistant telehealth services for the following insurance providers will also start on Monday, the 30th:

  • United Healthcare Medicaid 

  • Cook Childrens

Here are important points regarding this development:

  • The services stated above apply to all counties in the state of TX.

  • Telehealth services do not apply at this time to Clinical Fellow Speech-Language Pathologists and Speech-Language Pathologist Assistants. These restrictions are per the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulations (TDLR).

  • Home Health Companies are categorized under "Essential Healthcare Operations". We will proceed with normal operations for all insurances & clinicians not included in the temporary telehealth adjustments so far. Any telehealth visits that are conducted outside the current guidelines as stated above will not be compensated.   

  • Telehealth services will be temporary. The restrictions on telehealth are being loosened as a response to the outbreak of coronavirus (COVID-19).

  • Developments are happening at a rapid pace. We are hopeful that soon Clinical Fellow SLPs, and SLPAs will also be given the capacity under Medicaid to use TeleHealth services but nothing is guaranteed. We will inform everyone if that change takes place.

Our Teletherapy Platform will be Hangouts Meet, a video chat feature on G-suite. This service is HIPAA compliant. For clinicians who qualify at this time for using telehealth, we will follow-up with training videos on how to use Hangouts Meet. All clinicians must download the app on your smartphone & tablet devices with the following links:

Final note:

Strict restrictions to use HIPAA platforms are being waved right now so providers can implement these changes in good faith and quickly. It's important to know that if you absolutely can't connect with a patient for some reason with Hangouts Meet, Facetime or Skype is the next option.

We will be in touch for more updates. Thank you for your commitment to patient care during this time. 

Sincerely,

Rehab at Home administration 

Rehab at Home Healthcare Services