Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center on Mobile Rehabilitation: State of the Science Conference Report – Future Directions for mRehab for People with Disabilities

Abstract

This article summarizes proceedings of the State of the Science (SOS) Conference on Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Access for Mobile Rehabilitation, convened by the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center on Mobile Rehabilitation (mRehab RERC). The conference sought to assess the current state of the field and identify needed future research, development, and knowledge translation efforts. The conference comprised 4 sessions addressing the following broad areas: (1) adherence to and effectiveness of home therapeutic exercise programs (HEPs); (2) technology for remote monitoring to support rehabilitation in the home and community (mRehab); (3) analytic techniques for using “big data” generated by remote monitoring to customize home exercise; and (4) barriers and facilitators to adoption of mRehab technology. Key themes emerging from the conference include the need for: (1) easy set-up/use of mRehab technology; (2) integration of clinician tools for monitoring and managing HEPs within existing electronic medical record (EMR) workflow; (3) development of artificial intelligence (AI) applications to support adherence to HEPs; (4) research to validate the relationship between improved HEP adherence and rehabilitation outcomes; (5) research on cultural factors influencing adoption of mRehab; and (6) research evaluating the uptake and success of Medicare reimbursement using remote therapeutic monitoring (RTM) codes.