Clinical Guidelines
Guidance & Best Practices for the clinician in school-based Telehealth can be difficult to find as there are many terms for the same mode of providing clinical service over HIPAA-secure technology to clients or patients.
It is important to note that school-based telehealth is a mode of providing medical and behavioral health services and is not a separate service in and of itself. This mode requires specific training, preparation and protocols to provide safe, effective, legal and ethical clinical services.
School-based telehealth clinical guidelines may be found in:
- State license regulations and state guidance. Each state and each profession may be different.
- Profession-specific Codes of Ethics. Each profession has their own set of guidelines and state license regulations often require adherence to these Codes of Ethics.
- Reimbursement requirements. Payors may require certain types of technology (i.e. HIPAA-secure) and only permit certain practices and locations.
- Telemedicine industry best practices, such as the ATA Operating Procedures for Pediatric Telehealth.
Some key national organizations have published position statements or related documents:
- The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) released this statement about Pediatric Telehealth, though not specific to the school setting.
- The National Association of Pediatric NursePractitioners (NAPNAP) released this position statement on school-based health centers.
- The National Association of School Nurses (NASN) released this position statement on the role of school nursing in telehealth:
The scope of care to be provided via school-based telehealth greatly drives the guidelines that need to be followed.
- Here is an example of scope of care, as advertised to families by PATH, the Pender Alliance for Total Health in eastern North Carolina.
- CLIA-waived testing is frequently offered in school-based telehealth. Here is general guidance about CLIA waivers.
