Telerehabilitation in the Age of COVID-19: An Opportunity for Learning Health System Research

Abstract

he COVID-19 pandemic has impacted all aspects of health care delivery. To protect health care workers and patients across the country from the risk of disease transmission, rules, regulations and reimbursement policies were altered to enable widespread use of telecommunications technology in lieu of in-person clinical visits. 1 As a result, the delivery of rehabilitation in many settings was drastically and suddenly altered with physical therapists utilizing telehealth modalities in new ways and with new populations. 2 The shift to telerehabilitation provides a tremendous learning opportunity. This point of view provides an overview of how a learning health care system (LHS) approach to the study of telerehabilitation can promote innovation in optimal health care delivery and fuel new scientific discovery.