A Proposed Decision-Making Framework for the Translation of In-Person Clinical Care to Digital Care: Tutorial

The continued demand for digital health requires that providers adapt thought processes to enable sound clinical decision-making in digital settings. Providers report that lack of training is a barrier to providing digital health care. Physical examination techniques and hands-on interventions must be adjusted in safe, reliable, and feasible ways to provide digital care, and decision-making may be impacted by modifications made to these techniques. We have proposed a framework to determine whether a procedure can be modified to obtain a comparable result in a digital environment or whether a referral to in-person care is required. The decision-making framework was developed using program outcomes of a digital physical therapy platform and aims to alleviate barriers to delivering digital care that providers may experience. This paper describes the unique considerations a provider must make when collecting background information, selecting and executing procedures, assessing results, and determining whether they can proceed with clinical care in digital settings.