Chatham University Offers Telehealth Certification

The Chatham University School of Health Sciences has launched a telehealth certification course to train healthcare professionals in providing effective virtual care consultations.

The Telehealth Certificate of Completion program is an online 12-credit course that focuses on different types of telecommunications technology, project management, virtual engagement, and strategies to protect electronic health information.

Further, the course will provide education on legislative and state parity laws, licensing, and payment reimbursement processes. The course offers rolling admission.

The goal of the program is to help providers quickly become proficient with telehealth technologies and techniques and expand the capacity of virtual care services beyond the COVID-19 pandemic.

"The demand for effective telehealth options has skyrocketed during the COVID-19 pandemic as patients and healthcare providers seek safe and convenient alternatives to in-person visits, both to avoid risk of infection from interpersonal contact and to create more scheduling flexibility for working parents or caregivers," said Debra Wolf, PhD, director of the Chatham Healthcare Informatics Program, in the news release. "But as with online education, telehealth is a very different experience than in-person therapy or healthcare, which means providers must learn new best practices for delivering online healthcare in order to ensure their telehealth services meet their patients' needs comprehensively, effectively, and securely."

Pittsburgh-based Chatham University is an academic educational partner of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society.

Telehealth usage saw a massive spike when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, rising to 13 percent of outpatient visits in the first six months of the public health emergency. It has since dropped to 8 percent, but this usage level is still far higher than in 2019 when telehealth comprised less than 1 percent of outpatient visits.

To meet the growing demand for telehealth services, the American Board of Telehealth launched a certificate program last year aimed at helping primary care providers deliver virtual care.

It also launched a telebehavioral health certificate program in 2021, to provide resources for healthcare facilities and physicians using virtual care to address the mental health epidemic in America.

Even as certifications emerge to standardize telehealth education, the health industry is still waiting on Congress to solidify access to the care modality after the pandemic ends.

There are several bills winding their way through Congress, including a recent Senate bill that proposes extending Medicare reimbursement for a range of telehealth services, including substance abuse treatment, for two years after the public health emergency has ended.

As the industry awaits permanent telehealth legislation, advocacy organizations are ramping up the pressure, urging Congress to act.