Central Penn College prepares for the future with Telehealth Certificate
Central Penn College will offer a telehealth certificate course to meet the demand for healthcare employees skilled in this growing service area. The five-week course is offered completely online and will begin on July 6.
The certificate is accelerated and easily completed in five weeks. This non-credit, non-degree course is completely online and is affordable ($995, all-inclusive) for practices and practitioners, as well as administrators and professionals who consult in the healthcare field.
The course will be taught by Dr. Krista Wolfe, Dean of the School of Health Sciences; Dr. Kimberly Tanish, Program Director of the Occupational Therapy Assistant program; and other faculty members in the college’s health sciences department.
Learn more about Central Penn College’s certificate and sign up here.
Click here to register for the Telehealth Certificate progam!A Changing Healthcare Landscape
Telehealth is being used to maintain patient-care standards during the pandemic and will continue in the future. As Pennsylvania and the rest of the country begins to reopen, more practices will begin to see patients for elective surgeries, routine office visits and wellness checks that were placed on hold due to the pandemic and Telehealth is a great way to continue follow- up care for these patients.
Regulatory bodies are recognizing telehealth to be comparative to in-person clinical visits in terms of the way it’s reimbursed. This movement is supported by the increasing demand for patient treatment.
Clinicians will need to step into roles that they might not have otherwise assumed before the pandemic. Many need to be educated on ways to ensure that they have the right systems in place to implement telehealth in an impactful way for their patients. Considerations include having the right infrastructure in place to capture adequate patient information, register patients for visits and follow-up care, and training team members and patients to navigate new patient portals.
Telehealth enables physicians to see patients who might not be able to visit the clinic for care. This new method protects the health of both patients and caregivers. Telehealth prevents clinicians from being infected by COVID-positive patients and decreases the risk of physicians infecting patients if they are carriers.
Telehealth is enabling patients to receive better follow-up care, which is significantly decreasing re-entry rates. Telehealth technologies have enabled patients to be discharged with thermometers and devices that attach to their fingers, which can relay vital, real-time health information to providers, including heart rate and blood pressure. Patients can download a hospital’s preferred technology platform onto their smartphones to receive regular telehealth calls with their providers.
A huge advantage for Telehealth is that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has waived reimbursement restrictions to encourage the use of telehealth services. These waivers are temporary, but with telehealth gaining in both popularity and usage, this is may become the new reality.
One physician noted, “It isn’t just about seeking safer ways to treat COVID-19, but seeking care for more mundane issues without the threat of contracting the coronavirus while visiting a real-world medical facility.”
Telehealth also is enabling COVID-19 patients to receive follow-up care after discharge without risking infecting other patients.
Learn more about Central Penn College’s certificate and sign up here.
