Video Technology Frees Physical Therapists from the Tyranny of Narrative

Jay Culver demonstrates camera technology by GlobalMedia at the American Telemedicine Association annual conference in Tampa, Florida that may be applicable to physical therapist documentation of movement impairments such as squatting, walking and kneeling.



Could we replace thick charts of paper documentation?

Many paper charts are full of what some physical therapist leaders call "meaningless drivel".

Further, therapists are tyrannized by the garbage concept of "skilled physical therapy" that we must try to communicate through written narrative.

Can pictures and video free us from the tyranny of narrative?

As Jay Culver says in this video - "A video is worth a thousand words!"

Calorie Counting and Metabolic Feedback for Physical Therapists' Patients

The Aipermotion Active Body Control device:

Physical therapists can use Aipermon's new Active Body Control device to help their patients adhere to their diet using instant feedback of calories burned and calories taken in.

The device is part calorie calculator and part pedometer with an internet connection that sends your results to your doctor.

Poor Nancy has not had breakfast yet but she's a good trooper and she demonstrates the Aipermotion for me at the American Telemedicine Association (ATA) meeting in Tampa using her own metabolic data.



Thanks Nancy! Now, go get some breakfast!

Cell Phone Inventor at ATA Says "People Want to Move..."

Martin Cooper was an engineer at Motorola in 1973 when he stood on a Manhattan street corner on April 3rd and placed the world's first public cellular telephone call.

The rest, they say, is history.

Cooper expected millions, not billions, of cell phone users to use his product. This image is a replica of the original 2.2lb. cell phone that had a 20-minute battery life.

Today, there are 6,915,756,494 people in the world and over five billion cell phone users.

More people have access to cell phone networks than have access to...

• clean running water
• electricity
• regular dental hygiene

But Cooper doesn't bear the stigma for these social inequities - he is still hopeful that mobile technology can help solve some of the world's most pressing disease burdens.

"Technology doesn't mean a thing unless it makes people's lives better..."

...he said at the Keynote Speech kicking off the American Telemedicine Association 2011 annual conference in Tampa, Florida.

"People are mobile, they're naturally mobile - they want to move around".

Cooper envisions mobile technology implanted in our bodies - able to detect the genesis of new cancer cells and call that finding into a doctor who will then call the patient back for an appointment.

"Every disease can be actionably prevented," he said, "The cellular industry is still in its infancy..."

I admire Mr. Cooper's optimism.

I wonder what creative uses physical therapists can find for cellular technology to encourage our patients to "move around"?

American Telemedicine Association Advocates for Physical Therapists

The American Telemedicine Association (ATA) is advocating for physical therapists to deliver telerehabilitation services and receive Medicare reimbursement in order to succeed under Medicare Accountable Care Organizations (ACO):

"Medicare law bars some providers from delivering telehealth services - even as they are otherwise permitted under Medicare.
Notably, physical therapists, occupational therapists and speech-language pathologists, are barred from delivering telehealth services."

The ATA sent Medicare administrator Dr. Donald Berwick a letter on April 25th asking for five regulatory waivers, including the restriction on physical therapists performing telerehabilitation services.

The ATA request reads:

"ATA strongly urges the Secretary to waive this restriction. Otherwise, the ACOs will fail to fulfill Congressional and Agency intent...

...section 1834(m)(4)(E) needs to be waived... to permit any beneficiary to get the otherwise covered Medicare services of physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech-language pathology and audiology..."

The American Telemedicine Association is the leading international resource and advocate promoting the use of advanced remote medical technologies.

ATA and its diverse membership, works to fully integrate telemedicine into transformed healthcare systems to improve quality, equity and affordability of healthcare throughout the world.

The ATA 2011 annual meeting started today, Saturday April 30th in Tampa, Florida and runs through Tuesday, May 3rd.

I'll be attending the pre-course meetings, presentations and trade shows and posting the technology and innovations I find to this blog.

Tell me what you'd like to know about the emerging telemedicine industry.

How do you think physical therapists should fit into this new paradigm?

A Physical Therapist at the American Telemedicine Association's Annual conference

The American Telemedicine Association (ATA) is coming to the Tampa Convention Center here in Florida on May 1st to 3rd, 2011.

The ATA 16th Annual International Meeting and Exposition is the world's largest focusing exclusively on telemedicine and health.

I will attend the meeting representing PhysicalTherapyDiagnosis.com and I will interview several important people in the telemedicine industry. Among the luminaries I've already scheduled:

• Jean Bisio, President of Humana Cares, will present Emerging Markets in Federal Telehealth from 4:15 - 5:15 p.m. on Tuesday, May 3rd and I plan to attend this event - booth #1117.
  
  
• Jay Culver will demonstrate the Total Exam Camera by GlobalMedia - booth #717.
  
  
• IDEAL LIFE, the industry leader in remote health management solutions - booth # 1617.
  
  
• MD2GO, Sony's remote HD IP camera system, is designed to enable HD Video communication between a healthcare professional and a patient - booth #416
  
  
• Louis Burns, CEO of Care Innovations, is participating in the Emerging Markets for Remote Monitoring Applications roundtable on Monday, May 2, from 1-2pm in the Plenary Ballroom C.
  
  
• Alice Borrelli, Director of Global Health and Workforce Policy for Intel, is participating in the Transitioning Successful Pilot Studies into Mainstream Applications roundtable on Monday, May 2, from 3-4pm in the Plenary Ballroom C.
  
  
• Intel-GE Care Innovations™ has its blog set up so you can see some of the innovative, new telemedicine devices available this year.

I encourage physical therapists, especially private practice therapists and those in a position to lead their healthcare organizations, to learn about and perhaps embrace these technological changes - not for the sake of either change or for technology - but because of the promise that they bring to make better our patients lives.