Overview:

Founded a telehealth hand therapy practice during the COVID-19 pandemic to expand access to specialized rehab care, building digital workflows for virtual service delivery and creating an educational platform on Instagram that reached over 800 clinicians.

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Tools & Technologies:

Electronic Medical Record & Billing (Jane.app), Telehealth (Doxy.me), Communication (Gmail), Workflow Automation (Zapier), Tracking  & Analytics (Excel, Google Sheets), Exercise Programs (SimpleSet), Social Media (Instagram), Content (Photoshop, Canva), Practice Website (Wix.com)

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Problem & Discovery: 

During the COVID-19 pandemic, access to in-person rehabilitation, especially the specialty of post-traumatic and post-surgical hand therapy, was severely limited. Patients recovering from hand injuries or surgeries faced:

• Long wait times for hospital-based outpatient therapy due to resourcing constraints

• Reduced rehab clinic availability due to lockdowns, distancing restrictions or isolation precautions

• A lack of access to specialized hand therapy offered by certified clinicians in a remote or virtual capacity

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The reduced access to specialized care put patients at risk for poorer outcome after surgery, a deterioration of their condition or pain, or further downstream impacts to the already strained healthcare system. ​

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Core Problem Statement:

How might we maintain continuity of care and access to specialized hand therapy for patients unable to attend in-person sessions?

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Product Vision:

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Vision: Empower patients recovering from hand injuries to regain function safely from home through accessible, high-quality, virtual hand therapy resources.

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Mission: Bridge the care gap in hand rehabilitation by combining clinical expertise, digital delivery, and educational content.

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Research & Discovery:

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User Interviews: Conducted informal interviews with patients and orthopedic surgeons to understand access barriers. Patients initiated contact with me through an online directory of certified hand therapists organized by geographic area. When patients organically started to reach out to me for services, I recognized the opportunity to fulfill an unmet need in the market and improve access to care. 

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Market Research: Analyzed local rehab service availability, telehealth adoption trends, and patient readiness for remote therapy. Telemedicine was booming internationally due to the COVID-19 pandemic and patients were actively seeking out these services. 

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Insights:

• Patients lacked trustworthy rehab guidance online, especially for specialty areas like hand therapy

• Clinicians benefit from a structured way to deliver care remotely.

• There was a growing demand for remotely accessible and expert guided recovery. Remote accessibility through telemedicine also greatly enhanced the target user segment to anyone within jurisdiction of licensure who had access to the internet.

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Product Strategy:

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Target Users:

• Post-surgical & post-traumatic hand therapy patients

• Clinicians seeking to refer patients to trusted virtual care

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Value Proposition: Safe, specialized, therapist-guided recovery at home

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Business Model: Direct-to-consumer telehealth sessions + free educational content for visibility

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Product Channels: Web platform, Instagram (education & engagement), telehealth services

 

Product Design & Development:

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Features Developed or Procured & Integrated:

• Telehealth Service via Doxy.me: Secure, compliant video-based virtual therapy sessions.

• Electronic Medical Record via Jane.app: Secure documentation system, allowing template customization, billing, and scheduling.

• Customized Exercise Programs via SimpleSet: Created injury based templates of exercise programs that were tailored to patient's recovery 

• Educational Platform via Instagram: Created evidence-based rehab resources, exercise videos, and recovery guides.

• Website via Wix: Rehab practice information, booking information, and content​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​