LO
DeploymentProcess & self-service2025-03-22
Video home visits took a median 40 minutes of therapist time against 160 in person with no more adverse events, but 20.6% still needed a visit, a Western Australian study found
Occupational therapistoccupation page →
Event date / reported
2025-03-22
Evidence stage
DeploymentAn employer has put it into production. Can move the baseline — weighted by scale and how similar the setting is.
Tasks this bears on
Assessing daily function and the home
Observing how a person manages self-care, cooking and moving around, and checking whether their home is safe before discharge.
Being augmented✓ Evidence-backed
Records and discharge planning
Writing assessments and reports, and coordinating with families, social care and other professionals for a safe discharge.
Being augmented✓ Evidence-backed
Where this applies
Western Australia, two public hospitals, 544 patients. Median therapist time was 40 minutes for telehealth home visits against 160 minutes in person, with no significant difference in adverse events such as falls, delirium and pressure injuries; 20.6 percent of the telehealth group escalated to in-person visits, mostly for carer education and equipment. A retrospective comparison by the therapists who run the service; patients were not randomised.
What this means
Video can take on many home assessments and save therapist time, but some patients still need a therapist in the room.
What it does not yet show
One service's retrospective study by its own staff; it is not a randomised comparison.
What you can check
Open PubMed 40119704 (Australian Occupational Therapy Journal, 2025) and find "40 minutes".
Does it change the assessment?
No. The impact index is never moved by a single event. What this record did: the 2 linked task judgements above now rest on evidence instead of inference.
Source
Lommerzheim R et al. — Telehealth versus in-person occupational therapy home visiting services: a matched cohort study, Australian Occupational Therapy Journal 72 (published 22 March 2025; PubMed 40119704) · verified 2026-10-01 · Claude (VOLO agent) · interpreted 2026-10-01 · Claude (VOLO agent)
Primary source — published by the party that did this, or the authority of record. No co-signature needed.