As used in this chapter:

(1) “Applicant” means an individual who applies to be licensed under this chapter.

(2) “Board” means the Board of Occupational Therapy Practice established in this chapter.

(3) “Distant site” means a site at which a health-care provider legally allowed to practice in this State is located while providing health-care services by means of telemedicine or telehealth.

(4) “Division” means the Division of Professional Regulation.

(5) Excessive use or abuse of drugs or alcohol or “excessively uses or abuses drugs or alcohol” means any use of narcotics, controlled substances, or illegal drugs without a prescription from a licensed physician, or the abuse of alcoholic beverage such that it impairs a person’s ability to perform the work of an occupational therapist or occupational therapy assistant.

(6) “Licensee” means an individual licensed under this chapter to practice occupational therapy services.

(7) “Occupational therapist” means a person who is licensed to practice occupational therapy under this chapter and offers such services to the public under any title incorporating the words “occupational therapy,” “occupational therapist,” or any similar title or description of occupational therapy services.

(8) “Occupational therapy assistant” means a person licensed to assist in the practice of occupational therapy under the supervision of an occupational therapist.

(9) a. “Occupational therapy services” includes any of the following:

1. The assessment, treatment, and education of or consultation with an individual, family, or other persons.

2. Interventions directed toward developing, improving, or restoring daily living skills, work readiness or work performance, play skills, or leisure capacities, or enhancing educational performance skills.

3. Providing for the development, improvement, or restoration of sensorimotor, oralmotor, perceptual or neuromuscular functioning, or emotional, motivational, cognitive, or psychosocial components of performance.

b. “Occupational therapy services” or “practice of occupational therapy” may require assessment of the need for use of interventions such as the design, development, adaptation, application, or training in the use of assistive technology devices; the design, fabrication, or application of rehabilitative technology such as selected orthotic devices; training in the use of assistive technology, orthotic or prosthetic devices; the application of thermal agent modalities, including paraffin, hot and cold packs, and fluido therapy, as an adjunct to, or in preparation for, purposeful activity; the use of ergonomic principles; the adaptation of environments and processes to enhance functional performance; or the promotion of health and wellness.

c. “Occupational therapy services” or “practice of occupational therapy” may be provided through the use of telemedicine in a manner deemed appropriate by regulation and may include participation in telehealth as further defined in regulation.

(10) “Originating site” means a site in Delaware at which a patient is located at the time health-care services are provided to the patient by means of telemedicine or telehealth, unless the term is otherwise defined with respect to the provision in which it is used; however, notwithstanding any other provision of law, insurers and providers may agree to alternative siting arrangements deemed appropriate by the parties.

(11) “Person” means a corporation, company, association, or partnership, or an individual.

(12) “Practice of occupational therapy” means the use of goal-directed activities with individuals who are limited by physical limitations due to injury or illness, psychiatric and emotional disorders, developmental or learning disabilities, poverty and cultural differences, or the aging process, in order to maximize independence, prevent disability, and maintain health.

(13) “Store and forward transfer” means the transmission of a patient’s medical information either to or from an originating site or to or from the provider at the distant site, but does not require the patient being present or that the transmission be in real time.

(14) “Substantially related” means the nature of the criminal conduct for which a person was convicted has a direct bearing on the fitness or ability to perform 1 or more of the duties or responsibilities necessarily related to the practice of occupational therapy.

(15) “Supervision” means the interactive process between a licensed occupational therapist and an occupational therapy assistant, and requires more than a paper review or cosignature. “Supervision” means that the supervising occupational therapist is responsible for insuring the extent, kind, and quality of the services that the occupational therapy assistant renders.

(16) “Telehealth” means the use of information and communications technologies consisting of telephones, remote patient monitoring devices, or other electronic means which support clinical health care, provider consultation, patient and professional health-related education, public health, health administration, and other services as described in regulation.

(17) “Telemedicine” means a form of telehealth which is the delivery of clinical health-care services by means of real time 2-way audio, visual, or other telecommunications or electronic communications, including the application of secure video conferencing or store and forward transfer technology to provide or support health-care delivery, which facilitate the assessment, diagnosis, consultation, treatment, education, care management, and self-management of a patient’s health care by a licensee practicing within the licensee’s scope of practice as would be practiced in-person with a patient and with other restrictions as defined in regulation.

65 Del. Laws, c. 172, § 1; 70 Del. Laws, c. 186, § 1; 71 Del. Laws, c. 293, § 1; 74 Del. Laws, c. 262, § 37; 80 Del. Laws, c. 80, § 11; 81 Del. Laws, c. 424, § 2.