Telerehab and Tele Physiotherapy

[Eli Doron]

My name is Eli Doron. I have 30 years of technical and management experience in Hi-tech including a NASDAQ company I have founded 16 years ago.
I'm now in a process to start a new venture that will enable neurological and Orthopedic patients who need home exercise to do so at home with the ability to monitor and give real time feedback. It is aimed to be part of a physiotherapy treatment and not a replacement.

One of the issues I face is the lack of "service providers" who can install and maintain home equipment (relatively simple) and provide the physiotherapy services

I will appreciate any advise on who may be such "Service Provider".

[daniel gottlieb]

Paramedical staff (PT,OT,ST and RT) in home care services of HMO's are the primary "service providers" but their assistance and cooperation is not automatically ensured and it needs to undergo a lenghty process of "market introduction and education to the device" on their part as well as on the part of the administrators in charge. However there are several ways to make this process faster as with any new device. A different approach is to "reduce" (at least temporarily) the "seriousness" of such devices by considering them "recreational therapy" measures instead of "true" PT or OT devices and thus allowing the general public to get acuinted with them without need for regualtory approvals or proffesional instructors support (this is essentially the approach the Wii console is getting intoduced with). This (as yet unimplemented approach) has also been my approach in www.pnaivebriut.com

[Walter Greenleaf]

Hello Eli

My company has developed and sold equipment to the rehabilitation market over the last 20 years, and the issue that you describe has been a constant problem. The best way that we have found is to design the equipment be sturdy, portable, intuitive, and low cost.

That way, the equipment can be issued by the clinic for home use, and serviced at the clinic if there is a problem. We can also ship replacement systems to the home with 24hr notice.

A separate mechanism would be to utilize "home nursing specialists" who could be trained to provide setup and support at the patients homes, but our experience is that that can be prohibitively expensive.

We are also developing home rehabilitation systems that utilize VR technology - if we can assist you in your endeavors, perhaps with US sales, marketing, and support, please let us know.

Walter

Walter Greenleaf, PhD

President, Greenleaf Medical Products -- www.greenleafmed.com
President, Virtually Better, Inc. -- www.virtuallybetter.com

[CC-Conrad Clyburn-MedForeSight]

Eli,

Thank you for the thought provoking blog. I have shared it specifically with a number of MedTechIQ members with background & interest in rehabilitation. I would note, that many members in the U.S. are particularly focused on neurological rehabilitation related to Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). You may want to check out the TBI group, as well, at http://medtechiq.ning.com/group/traumaticbraininjurytbi.

Regards,

CC