OTD Capstone Projects

Abstract

The purpose of this capstone project was to provide up-to-date resources for occupational therapists, occupational therapy assistants, and occupational therapy students about legislative updates to the Tennessee occupational therapy practice act regarding the emerging area of telehealth practice. The pandemic was a catalyst for further legitimizing telehealth and telemedicine as a method of occupational therapy service delivery to be included in a state’s practice act as well as, being worthy of payment parity. The Tennessee Occupational Therapy Association(TNOTA) seeks to provide their constituents with timely, meaningful resources to assist in guiding practice and providing exemplary OT services. The TNOTA Telehealth Explainer resource developed during this project is a living document that provides current legislative updates regarding telehealth in a format that is free of legal jargon. This document will be available on the TNOTA website and updated as new legislative information regarding telehealth practice in the state of Tennessee is released. A secondary resource, the Telehealth Resource Directory, was developed for this project and includes information from AOTA, state occupational therapy organizations, and federal agencies regarding telehealth practice. Lastly, the final deliverable created throughout this project is a roadmap resource for making changes to a state’s practice act. This resource sheds light on the legislative process involved in making changes to a state’s practice act, which directly impacts the everyday practitioner.

Publication Date

Spring 4-4-2022

Faculty Mentor

Christine Manville EdD, OTR/L

Department

Occupational Therapy, School of

College

Health Sciences & Nursing, Gordon E. Inman College of

Document Type

Poster

Degree

Doctorate of Occupational Therapy (OTD)

Degree Level

Doctoral

Degree Grantor

Belmont University

Keywords

telehealth, telemedicine, practice act, service delivery

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