Telehealth Tuesdays

April 21, 2020:  Q&A with the CASP Telehealth Task Force

Original Webinar Date: April 21, 2020

Webinar Duration:  55 min

Short Title: Telehealth Tuesday (April 21, 2020)

CEU offered: 1.0 Learning CEU

CE Instructors:

  • Joy Pollard, PhD, BCBA-D
  • Heather O'Shea, BCBA-D
  • Jenna Minton, Esq.


About Telehealth Tuesdays:  CASP's Telehealth Tuesdays provide a recurring meeting time for providers to join and ask questions about telehealth service models and billing practices. During the pandemic, CASP will hold a call every Tuesday at 11:00 PT/2:00 ET via Zoom.  Providers should submit questions by the prior Friday evening. A selection of members from the CASP Telehealth Task Force, led by Dr. Joy Pollard, will then guide the general meeting based upon prior submissions, as well as questions that come in during the webinar. 

Effective May 26, 2020 these meetings will be held every 2 weeks and include a 10-15 minute demonstration of a telehealth technology platform.  Please note: These demonstrations do not imply CASP endorsement.

Questions addressed in this presentation include:

  1. Do we need to “start” and “stop” sessions each time the client moves out of view of the camera?
  2. Can you please address best practice assessment methods using telehealth, for example how to conduct a standardized assessment (ABLLS, VB-MAPP) via telehealth modalities?
  3. I have a client who has many of the prerequisite skills to participate in direct telehealth service delivery; however, we do not have instructional control with this modality. Are there any recommendations on how to proceed?
  4. If we have a parent that can implement some protocols, but not all independently - can we switch between 97153/97155 and 97156 within the same session?
  5. My client keeps wanting to leave the space, how can I help them stay in the area?
  6. What can I do if the child has the prerequisite skills, but is very distracted by the technology? For example, they can see the camera light and/or bluetooth earbud light on?
  7. Can we use the appendix(es) in the CASP document Practice Parameters for Telehealth-Implementation of ABA: Continuity of Care during the COVID-19 Pandemic without modifying them?

Instructor(s)

PhD, BCBA-D Heather O'Shea

Dr. Heather O’Shea has spent over 20 years working with families and children with special needs. She earned her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from California School of Professional Psychology, specializing in services with children and families in the educational, medical, and legal systems. She started her career in Applied Behavior Analysis in 2004 and enrolled in the very first BACB Course Sequence ever offered in California. She left her role as the Chief Clinical Officer at a large national organization in 2020 to join Verbal Behavior Associates (VBA) as President. She is proud to oversee an organization committed to providing evidence-based intervention and specializing in serving clients with profound needs. Her commitment to quality service delivery, ethics, training and mentorship have driven her dedication to the field. Her mission is to impact the field and leave a lasting positive impact on all of those impacted by and committed to improving the lives of those touched by autism. She is also known for creative ways to encourage community. After winning the Spirit Award (aka giant stuffed pickle) at the Autism Law Summit, she traveled the country with it, promoting autism awareness.

Ph.D., BCBA-D Joy Pollard

Dr. Joy Pollard is the Co-founder and CEO of Clinical Operations at Behavior Change Institute. She earned her Ph.D. in Disability Disciplines, with a Specialization in Applied Behavior Analysis and her clinical experience has spanned across the home, clinical, school, and residential home settings. Dr. Pollard serves as Adjunct Faculty in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University, where she provides clinical supervision and collaborates on research focused on children with ASD and neurogenetic syndromes. Her research and clinical practice have focused extensively on practitioner capacity building initiatives and pioneering telehealth applications to increase access to medically necessary ABA treatment for individuals living in rural and geographically isolated areas. Her scholarly publications include articles on ethical considerations in the design and implementation of telehealth service delivery models and she has served as a subject matter expert for the Telehealth Guidelines by the Council for Autism Service Providers (CASP).

Esq Jenna Minton

Jenna W. Minton, Esq. is the President of Proactive Strategies (formerly Minton Healthcare Strategies). Proactive Strategies specializes in guiding clients through Medicare and Medicaid regulatory processes. Specifically, Jenna focuses on the development of CPT Codes. Jenna also assists in valuing medical services through the AMA Relative Update Committee. From 2016 through the end of March 2019, Jenna guided and contributed substantially to the efforts of the ABA coding work group, including the development of the 2019 ABA CPT code set and generation of subsequent educational materials aimed at their implementation. Jenna also serves as the Director of Operations at Residential Options, Inc. (ROI). She oversees audit, contracting, and reimbursement issues for ROI which employs almost 350 people and services around 300 clients with ASD or a developmental disabilities. Jenna is licensed to practice law in Maryland and is a member of the Maryland State Bar Association.