"[F]or telehealth to become a reality, rehab professionals and patients/clients must demand more of their personal and overall health care delivery systems," says Alan Lee, PT, DPT, PhD, CWS, GCS, in a new APTA podcast titled Telehealth: Recent Trends, the Importance to Physical Therapy and its Future.  

Christopher Peterson, PT, DPT, hosts the podcast, the third in a series on telehealth, which also features Bambang Parmanto, PhD, and Tammy Richmond, OT, FAOTA. Lee, Parmanto, and Richmond describe how telehealth practice may develop over the next 10-15 years and discuss the opportunities for collaboration between rehabilitation professionals. Specifically, Parmanto notes the development of common telepractice among rehab professionals "to help toward sharing technologies and sharing outcome data from the service being provided." The group also addresses key areas that need to be addressed for telehealth opportunities to become a reality, such as payment and licensure.

APTA podcasts are prerecorded discussions and interviews, not live events. Members can listen to podcasts at their convenience by clicking on the links provided in News Now articles, visiting www.apta.org/podcasts/, or subscribing to APTA podcasts on iTunes.