When COVID-19 took hold, like the rest of the world, our team found ourselves in unchartered territory. While adjusting to our new normal, we continued to immerse ourselves in seminars, analyze hundreds of pages of government documents and Executive Orders, and collaborate with Mieron healthcare providers to learn how our health systems were transforming to remote care.
For physical therapy and out-patient rehabilitation especially, the changes needed to care for vulnerable and immunocompromised patients were immense. This begged the question: How do we go from physical therapy being such a hands-on practice, (and never before telehealth eligible) to now through computer screens and teleconferencing?
For many stroke, SCI, MS and Parkinson’s patients, rehab and out-patient therapy provides the coaching and guidance to keep patients engaged, and ensure a quality intervention for improving mobility; but it also acts as a social interaction that many patients require to stay engaged.
The Cares Act of 2020 expanded telehealth so greatly that one practitioner confided in us that the abrupt and necessary transition felt “like being asked to build an airplane mid-flight.” And for practitioners like physical and occupational therapists that never before were able to offer their services through telehealth, there seemed to be little guidance or road maps available to make the transition smooth.
As we have from our founding-day through today, Team Mieron stepped up to the challenge. Being in the unique position to already have an inclusive software for all levels of mobility, this enabled us to swiftly package a software & hardware solution that could be an effective tool for patients to use at home during and between telehealth appointments. We even guided healthcare providers on how to successfully submit 1135 Waivers to have the newly approved CMS codes covered for their patients that would benefit from the remote care.
While some providers decided to deploy Mieron Rehab Pro units on a rotational basis to their clients, other’s utilized the consumer MieronGO system for a patient to keep in their house indefinitely. With each, the Mieron library provides a versatile library of exercises for upper extremity, lower extremity, core exercises, and mental wellness exercises. Our team of developers added enhanced analytics to both the healthcare provider system and consumer system to help track compliance, pain management, and user output.
When wearing the VR headset, users are prompted to rate their pain before choosing an experience from the library and again rate their pain after completing their exercises. While VR has been clinically proven as an effective pain management tool, this user-rating tool also helps both the practitioner and the end user evaluate compliance and efficacy. User data is emailed securely to a practitioner at the conclusion of each session, outlining the exercises completed, duration of workout time, number of reps completed and pain tracking. For remote care, this enables practitioners to not only track user sessions and general compliance, but also assign new homework based on the user generated data.
“I’m not always motivated to do rehab at home, but using MieronGO makes the rehab exercises feel more like games. Being a high level quadrepelegic it’s a relief knowing I can get myself set up and participate in the Mieron experiences while also getting a fun workout.”
-Ryan B, C6 SCI.
Mieron offers both practitioners and home users various training and homework guides to draw inspiration from on how to get creative using the Mieron system to up the intensity or target particular muscle groups.
“When I first started doing rehab at home, I was very skeptical about how I would do some of the exercises, and the monotony of being at home all the time was draining. Mieron removes me from my home and makes the experience something I look forward to.”
– Lindsay, Stroke Survivor.
By adding compliance reporting, Mieron has transformed how practitioners are able to track the homework assignments they give their clients. Gains are more easily lost than won when it comes to mobility and independence; and with COVID demanding that many of these practices remain remote, it is essential that mobility exercises and activity based training are adhered to at home. With Virtual Reality NeuroTherapy, your world is exponentially expanded while staying safer at home through a variety of gait training trails, exercises in fantasy worlds, and Accessibility First design so that users with minimal dexterity or coordination can participate on their own.
If you’d like to learn more about how to submit an 1135 Waiver for expanded telehealth coverage, or any Mieron system please contact hello@mieronvr.com
