Academy News

TOWN HALL MEETING WITH APTA PEDIATRICS PRESIDENT CINDY MILES: Tues, March 31, 8:00 pm EST

Join APTA Pediatrics President Cindy Miles for a town hall meeting on Tuesday, March 31, at 8:00 pm EST via Zoom: https://zoom.us/j/571417642.

This will provide a general overview of what's happening in light of the COVID situation.

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Tune in for a SIG Town Hall: Support each other, the children, and the families we serve

We are a community! The APTA Academy of Pediatric Physical Therapy Special Interest Groups (SIGs) are holding town hall meetings so you can meet with others who are in similar practice areas dealing with similar challenges as we all face the constantly changing healthcare landscape of COVID-19. You are welcome to join as many meetings as you are interested in. You do not need to be an APTA Pediatric or a SIG member to attend.

 

Monday, March 30 8:30 pm EST	School SIG Town Hall Region II: CO, IA, KS, MN, MO, NE, ND, SD, WY	https://zoom.us/j/651071780
Tuesday March 31 10:00 am EST	School SIG Town Hall EST Region VI: AL, FL, GA, KY, MS, TN	https://zoom.us/j/354763923
Wednesday, April 1 7:00 pm EST	Hospital/Outpatient SIG and Neonatal SIG Joint Town Hall	https://zoom.us/j/976590531
Thursday, April 2 7:00 pm EST	Early Intervention SIG Town Hall	https://zoom.us/j/809275239
Friday, April 3 6:00 pm EST	Adolescent/Adult with Developmental Disabilities & Pediatric Sports Fitness SIGs Town Hall	https://zoom.us/j/437265452
Monday April 6 4:30 pm EST	School SIG Town Hall Region IV: CT, DE, ME, MA, NH, NJ, NY, PA, RI, VT	https://zoom.us/j/517816945
Tuesday, April 7 7:00 pm EST	Academic & Clinical Education SIG Town Hall	https://zoom.us/j/118575534
Monday April 27 5:00 pm EST	School SIG Town Hall Region III: IL, IN, MI, OH, WI	https://zoom.us/j/132512195
Monday April 27 7:00 pm EST	School SIG Town Hall Region V: DC, MD, NC, SC, VA, WV	https://zoom.us/j/383891325
Wednesday April 29 7:00 pm EST	School SIG Town Hall Region I: AK, CA, HI, ID, MT, NV, OR, UT, WA	https://zoom.us/j/347414473
TBD	School SIG Town Hall Contact: Jeannine Moore SSIGRegion6@gmail.com Region VII: AR, AZ, LA, NM, OK, TX

 

Providing Pediatric Physical Therapy Services via Telepractice (Updated 3/30/2020)

The American Physical Therapy Association and the APTA Academy of Pediatric Physical Therapy are working to keep practitioners abreast of current concerns and precautions as the spread of COVID-19 progresses. Regulations are changing quickly and are difficult to keep up with both for our organization as well as for individual practitioners.

Practitioners are increasingly exploring alternative service delivery models. Terms such as “telemedicine”, “telehealth”, “tele-intervention”, and “telepractice” are used interchangeably to describe the delivery of health care services using information and communication technology.

APTA Pediatrics would like to address questions regarding telepractice that have been raised by our membership. There is no clear-cut determination or one-size-fits-all solution regarding telepractice for pediatric services, even in an unusual situation such as the one we are now facing. The regulations are fluid and change quickly.

 

Each practitioner must take responsibility for knowing the legal, state, federal, organizational, and ethical rules that regulate alternative service delivery models. A great deal relies on the case, specific considerations of each context/situation, clinical reasoning, and the individual determination by the practitioner of whether telepractice is appropriate.

No matter what service delivery model your employer or organization is trying to establish, you are ultimately responsible for the legal and ethical delivery of PT services. We encourage you to consider each of the following prior to initiating telepractice:

• Know exactly what service delivery model you are considering. There is a differentiation between e-visits and other telehealth models. E-visits must be initiated by the “patient,” the patient must be an established patient for the provider, and the visit must be delivered through an already established patient portal.
   
• Consult your state regulatory board to determine whether telepractice for physical therapists is within the scope of practice for your state as this is a state by state decision. As of November 2019, there were only 16 states which included “telerehabilitation” within their practice act.
   
• Consult the agency, clinic, hospital, program, or school district you work for to determine whether telepractice is approved or will be supported.
   
• If you are serving Medicaid patients, consult your state agency to see if telepractice is reimbursable and, if so, what is appropriate coding. This again is a state by state decision.
   
• Ensure that the patient/family insurance carrier will reimburse for telepractice and determine appropriate coding.
   
• Ensure that any vehicles used for telepractice (eg, computers, storage, internet carriers) meet HIPAA and/or FERPA requirements.                     
   
• Consult the law if you work in a setting under IDEA part B or part C. Changes to service delivery in an IFSP or an IEP require team consensus and a formal IFSP or IEP change of location of service.
   
• Ask if special training is required to qualify practitioners to provide telepractice.
   
• If you deem that telepractice is legal and safe for your practice, you must then make a determination that telepractice is helpful and ethical on a case by case basis for each patient and family you serve. You must also give thoughtful consideration to the qualifications and training required by the “on-site” person who carries out your interventions.
   
• Does your organization have telepractice policies and procedures addressing situations such as emergencies?

Below are links to websites that might be helpful to gain greater insight into the issues that must be addressed prior to changing a service delivery model. Every effort will be made to update this document and the links below given the time complexities for the volunteers who are generously sharing their time for the benefit of our profession during this challenging time.

GENERAL TELEPRACTICE

APTA resources:

• March 30, 2020: APTA Offers General and Pediatric-Focused COVID-19 Guidance for PTs, PTAs, and Students (including when a PT should tell patients to cancel an outpatient visit and factors to consider when providing remote school-based services as part of an IEP. http://www.apta.org/PTinMotion/News/2020/03/30/GeneralAndPediatricGuidance/
• March 30, 2020: Pediatric and School-based Therapy During the COVID-19 Pandemic. http://www.apta.org/PatientCare/COVID-19/PatientManagementPediatric/
• March 16, 2020: A statement addressing telehealth in light of COVID-19. http://www.apta.org/PTinMotion/News/2020/3/16/TelehealthCOVID19/
• March 18, 2020: http://www.apta.org/PTinMotion/News/2020/03/18/CoronaUpdateMarch18
• General information and a template to use for payers. http://www.apta.org/Telehealth/
• Additional resources for payers: http://www.apta.org/PTinMotion/News/2020/03/23/QuestionsToAskAboutTelehealth/?_zs=hq7fV1&_zl=MKOd6
• March 18, 2020: Billing E-visits: http://www.apta.org/PTinMotion/News/2020/03/18/E-VisitFAQs/?_zs=hq7fV1&_zl=OKOd6
• APTA's Coronavirus page and Telehealth page are also continually being updated.

Additional APTA Pediatrics resources:

• Additional resources, as well as some state specific resources, are posted in the Federal and State Advocacy Issues forum (to access from the APTA Pediatrics home page www.pediatricapta.org, click on “Forums.”)
• The State Pediatric Advocacy Liaison (SPAL) for your state may be able to help you with state-specific questions: https://pediatricapta.org/about-pediatric-physical-therapy/leadership/
• If there is no SPAL listed for your state, contact your APTA state chapter leadership for assistance: http://aptaapps.apta.org/componentconnection/chaptersandsections.aspx?UniqueKey=

Medicaid and Medicare resources:

• March 18, 2020: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) posted additional FAQs to the Medicaid.gov website to aid state Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) agencies in their response to the 2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak: https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/USCMSMEDICAID/bulletins/2811cab 2
• Medicare E-visit resource: https://www.cms.gov/newsroom/fact-sheets/medicare-telemedicine-health-care-provider-fact-sheet
• State by state regulations for Medicaid reimbursement for telehealth https://www.cchpca.org/telehealth-policy/current-state-laws-and-reimbursement-policies?jurisdiction=70&category=All&topic=All
• Medicaid telehealth facts: https://www.medicaid.gov/medicaid/benefits/telemedicine/index.html

SERVICE DELIVERY IN SCHOOLS:

• March 30, 2020: A couple of important takeaways form the CARES Act: 1) 30 billion was allocated to the Elementary and Secondary Schools Emergency Relief Fund, which can be used for IDEA, 504, and other disability instruction and services. It will be critical for state and local advocates to immediate interact with their state Departments of Education and local school districts about how those funds will be used to support students with disabilities. 2) $150 billion was allocated to state and local governments. As with the school funds, stakeholders will need to advocate for the use of these funds to provide blind, deaf, developmental disability, vocational rehabilitation, and other disability services.
• March 2020: Department of Education, Providing Services to Children with Disabilities During the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Outbreak: https://www2.ed.gov/policy/speced/guid/idea/memosdcltrs/qa-covid-19-03-12-2020.pdf?utm_content=&utm_medium=email&utm_name=&utm_source=govdelivery&utm_term=
• March 2020: Student Privacy Policy Office FERPA & Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs): https://studentprivacy.ed.gov/sites/default/files/resource_document/file/FERPA%20and%20Coronavirus%20Frequently%20Asked%20Questions_0.pdf?utm_content=&utm_medium=email&utm_name=&utm_source=govdelivery&utm_term=
• CDC’s Coronavirus Disease-2019 (COVID-19) Guidance for School Settings has been updated and is posted at: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/schools-childcare/index.html.
• 2016 OSEP Guidance on Virtual Schools: https://www2.ed.gov/policy/speced/guid/idea/memosdcltrs/dcl--virtual-schools--08-05-2016.pdf
• Helpful perspectives for school PTs: https://sites.google.com/view/sbptcovid-19perspectives/home

SERVICE DELIVERY IN EARLY INTERVENTION:

• March 202: Department of Education, Providing Services to Children with Disabilities During the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Outbreak: https://www2.ed.gov/policy/speced/guid/idea/memosdcltrs/qa-covid-19-03-12-2020.pdf?utm_content=&utm_medium=email&utm_name=&utm_source=govdelivery&utm_term=
• ECTA center list of resources: https://ectacenter.org/topics/disaster/tele-intervention.asp

SERVICE DELIVERY IN HOSPITALS AND OUTPATIENT FACILITIES:

• See general telepractice resources above…particularly those discussing E-visits.
• COVID-19 hospital guidelines: http://www.apta.org/PTinMotion/News/2020/03/26/AcuteHospitalCOVIDGuidelines/ ).

PRIVATE PRACTICE

• You may also find useful resources on the Private Practice Section’s page (https://ppsapta.org/physical-therapy-covid-19.cfm).

Visit APTA Pediatrics (https://pediatricapta.org/) and APTA’s Coronavirus page (http://www.apta.org/Coronavirus/) for additional information as the situation evolves.

 

Message from the APTA Pediatrics President re: COVID-19

Please take a moment to read the latest blog post from APTA Pediatrics President Cindy Miles. https://pediatricapta.org/blog/

Update on IDEA During COVID-19

Thank you to all members who contacted your legislators regarding the threat of IDEA Rights being waived as part of the proposed COVID-19 Stimulus Package. Initial language in this bill authorized the Secretary of the Department of Education to completely WAIVE the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. After receiving pressure from the disability rights community (of which APTA is a part) and all of YOU, revised the language will now report which aspects of IDEA the secretary wants to be waived, subject to congressional approval.  The latest Senate bill can be read here: https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/3548

“(3) IDEA REPORT.—Not later than 30 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Education shall prepare and submit a report to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions and the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate, and the Committee on Education and Labor and the Committee on Appropriations of the House of Representatives, with recommendations on any additional waivers the Secretary believes are necessary to be enacted into law under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (20 U.S.C. 1401 et seq.) and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. 701 et seq.) to provide limited flexibility to States and local educational agencies to meet the unique needs of students with disabilities during the emergency involving Federal primary responsibility determined to exist by the President under the section 501(b) of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5191(b)) with respect to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19).”

 

February 27 School SIG Webinar Posted

The recent School SIG webinar on Research Supported Interventions for SBPTs (https://youtu.be/7ZgKbmIBQZM) is available on APTA Pediatrics News (www.pediatricapta.org) until April 1, then archived on the School SIG webpage. Thanks to Andy Ruff, Wendy Harrell and the SSIG Engaging Membership subcommittee!

 

Lilly Conferences on the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning

Lilly Conferences on the scholarship of teaching and learning:

 

Lilly Conference website -- https://www.lillyconferences.com/