Is Telehealth Revolutionizing Post-Stroke Rehabilitation?

When someone survives a stroke, the repercussions extend beyond the need for immediate care – survivors are often left requiring countless hours of rehabilitation in order to successfully regain function. That means both stroke survivors and caregivers are stuck with the energy-draining responsibility of scheduling appointments, arranging travel to-and-from clinics, and spending hard-earned money simply trying to recover.

All of a sudden rehabilitation becomes an exhausting burden.

Well, what if I told you post-stroke rehabilitation (rehab) didn’t have to be so exhausting? In fact, what if I told you there was already a company providing you with the resources to effectively regain function without having to leave the comfort of your home?

Introducing Motus Nova’s Home Mentor System®. At Motus Nova®, they provide robotic devices and a telehealth platform that allows skilled providers to deliver post-stroke rehabilitation. As a result, they can start optimising rehab for as many stroke-survivors as possible. By utilizing telehealth, post-stroke rehabilitation can become a quicker, cheaper, and overall a safer experience.

Saving You Time

“Wow! That sounds great. But what exactly is telehealth?”

I’m glad you asked! Telehealth “is defined as the delivery and facilitation of health and health-related services […] via telecommunications and digital communication technologies” (1). That means your usual appointment at the clinician’s office can now be done at home.

No more time spent travelling to-and-from the clinician’s office. In fact, you don’t even have to be at home to use your Motus Nova Home Mentor System® – you can be in any remote location as long as you have an internet connection and power.

After you order your Motus Nova Home Mentor System®, it arrives at your doorstep and includes your rehab device (either the Motus Nova Hand or Foot Mentor®), a digital therapist (a monitor that “displays games that provide the user with an interactive way to do their therapy”), and a cord that connects your device to the monitor (2).

When you want to get started, your therapist tells you how to put the device on, giving you a feeling of independence and confidence.

Once the device is on, the movement begins and your session is already underway. By utilizing telehealth, the Motus Nova Home Mentor System® is ready for at-home use whenever you are.

Not only does telehealth rehabilitation save you time traveling to-and-from the clinician’s office, it can also increase the amount of time spent doing rehabilitation exercises. At Motus Nova®, they’ve made post-stroke rehab accessible by bringing the clinician to you. This also makes it possible for stroke survivors living in rural areas to receive effective rehabilitation they would not have otherwise had access to.

In fact, a 2015 study by Levy and colleagues (3) assessed the rehabilitation experience of US Veterans needing care. The study found that Veterans receiving telehealth rehabilitation avoided traveling an average of 2,774.7 +/– 3,197.4 miles and avoided 46.3 +/– 53.3 hours of driving time, compared to their usual clinic-based experience.

Saving You Money

Let’s face it – nothing in life is free, and that includes the cost of post-stroke rehabilitation. After having a stroke, it is quite likely the stroke survivor and their caregiver will be taking time off work to rehabilitate. Unfortunately, time off work can also mean a loss of income.

So how do you go about paying for rehab?

Well, Motus Nova® has committed to reducing the burden of cost for both stroke survivors and caregivers. Telehealth rehabilitation with the Home Mentor System® is reimbursed through Medicare and most private insurance (4). Whatever form of payment you use, you are able to stretch the value of every dollar when you use the Home Mentor System® any time outside of your scheduled telehealth sessions – as long as you are continuing regular telehealth sessions with your clinician, you can use the Home Mentor System® any time at no extra cost.

And with caregiver(s) no longer having to manage the cost of travelling to-and-from appointments, the cost associated with post-stroke rehab as well as caregiver-burden are dramatically reduced (5).

An analysis by Housley and colleagues (5) reviewed the cost of rehabilitation through the Veterans Affairs (VA) health care system. They found the final cost of Veteran clinic-based therapy to be $3,619.95 per Veteran, compared with three-months of home-based telehealth therapy to be just $1,268.07 per Veteran. This comparison reveals a substantial average savings per Veteran of $2,352 (64.97%) (4).

“Wow this sounds great! But money isn’t an issue for me – don’t the outcomes of clinic-based therapy make it worth paying for?”

You’d think so, wouldn’t you? But actually, a 2019 clinical trial of 124 adult stroke survivors found that telehealth rehabilitation showed “comparable” results to clinic-based rehabilitation for improving motor function (6). It is increasingly evident that telehealth rehabilitation sessions save time and costs, and are effective at assisting stroke survivors in regaining function.

Prioritizing Your Health

As we live in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, we are reminded of the importance of overall patient health and the risk posed to stroke survivors who may be immunocompromised.

Using the Motus Nova Home Mentor System® keeps both stroke survivors and clinicians out of harm’s way; utilizing telehealth allows for both effective and safe rehabilitation sessions to continue. Not only does telehealth prioritize and optimize post-stroke rehabilitation, it prioritizes overall personal health.

The Rehab Revolution You’ve Been Waiting For

Motus Nova® is proud to provide accessible, cost-efficient, safe and effective telehealth solutions. Telehealth is revolutionizing the way rehab is delivered by allowing stroke survivors to overcome the “physical, financial, and logistical barriers” that normally stand in the way of effective rehab (3).

The telehealth solution for post-stroke rehabilitation is no longer just an optional healthcare choice, it is an ideal one.

Discover whether the Motus Nova Home Mentor System® is right for you by clicking the button below.
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Ella Sofia is a freelance writer, habit coach, and content creator at
www.retrainyourbrain.ca

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References

(1) NEJM Catalyst Journal. (2018, February 1). Retrieved from https://catalyst.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/CAT.18.0268

(2) Motus Nova Stroke Rehabilitation Technology Designed for At Home Use. (2020, August 07). Retrieved August 13, 2020, from https://dochousley.com/technology/

(3) Levy CE, Silverman E, Jia H, Geiss M, Omura D. (2015). Effects of physical therapy delivery via home video telerehabilitation on functional and health-related quality of life outcomes. Journal of Rehabilitation Research and Development. 52(3):361-70. Retrieved from https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26230650/

(4) Clinician Provided Telehealth Stroke Rehabilitation with Motus Nova Robots. (2020, July 08). Retrieved August 04, 2020, from https://dochousley.com/telehealth/

(5) Housley, SN, Garlow AR, Ducote K, Howard A, Thomas T, Wu D, Richards K, Butler AJ. (2016). Increasing Access to Cost Effective Home-Based Rehabilitation. Austin Journal of Cerebrovascular Disease & Stroke. 3(2):1-11.

(6) Cramer, S. C., Dodakian, L., Le, V., See, J., Augsburger, R., Mckenzie, A., . . . Janis, S. (2019). Efficacy of Home-Based Telerehabilitation vs In-Clinic Therapy for Adults After Stroke. JAMA Neurology, 76(9), 1079. doi:10.1001/jamaneurol.2019.1604