Schreiber Center for Pediatric Development relies on telemedicine, donations to protect young clients

While working with only a fraction of its young clients in-person due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Schreiber Center for Pediatric Development has seen a drastic increase in telemedicine visits and donations.

The East Hempfield Township, Lancaster County-based pediatric physical therapy center has greatly decreased its in-patient visits as it looks to protect its patient population, many of whom are immunocompromised or could have complications from contracting COVID-19.

Schreiber recently reopened its doors for in-person visits in mid-May, but is only seeing approximately two clients an hour in each of its three departments compared to more than 14 an hour in each department before the virus, according to James DeBord, Schreiber’s president.

“My primary responsibility is the 4,000 kids we serve, and about 70% have some underlying health issue that would make them either immunocompromised or more likely to have complications from COVID,” he said.

While Schreiber remained open as an essential services provider during Gov. Tom Wolf’s stay-at-home order, Schreiber was forced to scale back operations because cancellation rates reached nearly 80 percent. It furloughed a third of its workforce, but has brought back 72 of its 78 employees thanks to help from PPP funding from the state.

Schreiber provides physical, occupational and speech therapy services to kids with disabilities, developmental delays and injuries. The center primarily receives payments through Medicaid reimbursements, which are historically low for child therapy services Schreiber loses an average $65 for every hour of service it provides to clients.

Earlier this year, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced a series of regulatory rollbacks that would allow more health care providers to receive reimbursements for telemedicine services to keep clients from contacting COVID-19 through visits with their providers.

Schreiber has taken advantage of the telemedicine rollout and is currently providing services for about 40% of its patient population through video visits with therapists, said DeBord.

“(The rule change) allowed for a decent percentage of clients to be seen via telehealth–that was a game changer,” he said. “Speech therapy works well with telehealth, but with physical therapy, you can’t take a child that needs to be supported in a harness and have them take their first steps on a treadmill while a therapist talks them through it.”

Increases in donations from the community also helped the center continue providing for its clients. During a period from February to May last year, Schreiber earned $675,002 in donations from general contributions and fundraisers.

For the same four-month period this year, Schreiber was able to bring in $687,279 in donations. DeBord said he hopes the fundraising continues to grow with the help of a $250,000 matching grant promised to the center this month by the Harrisburg-based Stabler Foundation.

Schreiber will be holding its 32nd Annual Rubber Duckie Race fundraiser in September to raise funds for the clinic. All donations made to the event will be doubled thanks to Stabler’s matching grant.

The center is expected to continue to maintain low numbers of in-person visits and high percentages of telehealth visits until there is a widely distributed vaccine, according to DeBord.

“Our parents aren’t willing to take that chance and I can’t blame them,” he said. “Until people are comfortable that this is something like the flu or mumps, where contracting is nil, I don’t see that changing.”