The Development of Statewide Policies and Procedures to Implement Telehealth for Part C Service Delivery

Beth Cole; Arlene Stredler-Brown; Becki Cohill; Kristina Blaiser; Diane Behl; Sharon Ringwalt

doi:10.5195/ijt.2016.6206

The Development of Statewide Policies and Procedures to Implement Telehealth for Part C Service Delivery

Int J Telerehabil. 2016 Dec 15;8(2):77-82. doi: 10.5195/ijt.2016.6206. eCollection 2016 Fall.

Authors

Beth Cole¹, Arlene Stredler-Brown², Becki Cohill³, Kristina Blaiser⁴, Diane Behl⁵, Sharon Ringwalt⁶

Affiliations

¹ EARLY INTERVENTION COLORADO STATE STAFF, COLORADO, USA.
² DEPARTMENT OF SPEECH, LANGUAGE, AND HEARING SCIENCES, UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO, BOULDER, COLORADO, USA.
³ DEPARTMENT OF OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY, UNIVERSITY OF ST. AUGUSTINE, SAN MARCOS, CALIFORNIA, USA.
⁴ DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATION SCIENCES AND DISORDERS, IDAHO STATE UNIVERSITY, MERIDIAN, IDAHO, USA.
⁵ NATIONAL CENTER FOR HEARING ASSESSMENT AND MANAGEMENT, UTAH STATE UNIVERSITY, LOGAN, UTAH, USA.
⁶ EARLY CHILDHOOD TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE CENTER, CHAPEL HILL, NORTH CAROLINA, USA.

Abstract

The use of telehealth has been discussed nationally as an option to address provider shortages for children, birth through two, enrolled in Part C of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) Early Intervention (EI) programs. Telehealth is an evidence-based service delivery model which can be used to remove barriers in providing EI services to children and their families. In 2016, Colorado's Part C Early Intervention (EI) program began allowing the use of telehealth as an option for providers to conduct sessions with children and their caregivers. This article outlines the process taken to develop the necessary requirements and supports for telehealth to be incorporated into EI current practice.

Keywords: Early intervention (EI); Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA); Telehealth.