Telehealth is no longer a fad or a health care add-on. The American Medical Association is about to establish ethical guidelines for telemedicine and telehealth, which means the mainstream now accepts it as part of the health care continuum of care.
As reported by Forbes, the AMA’s ethical governing body will meet over the next few days to discuss, among other matters, an ethical structure that caregivers engaged in telemedicine can follow and feel like they’ve done the right thing.
The AMA has declared that telehealth vendors should, at the very least, adopt the following practices around the service:
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They should inform patients who engage in telehealth that the service has limitations.
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They should explain to patients the process for next steps to take following up a telehealth consult.
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Patients should be encouraged to report any telehealth activities to their primary care provider so that the engagement becomes part of their healthcare record and, of course, so the primary care physician is aware of the event.
The AMA is basically saying it’s time to focus on telehealth services before they become so widespread and diverse that setting standards would prove difficult.
In an AMA report that sets the agenda for the sessions, the AMA’s Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs says, “Although physicians’ fundamental ethical responsibilities do not change, the continuum of possible patient-physician interactions in telehealth/telemedicine give rise to differing levels of accountability for physicians.”
The AMA’s move to establish ethical guidelines for telehealth represents something more than agreement on a set of standards; it also paves the way for health care providers to be reimbursed for such services. As Forbes notes, previously, physicians and others in the medical field generally couldn’t expect to be reimbursed by insurers for phone or online discussions with patients.
As the field becomes more formalized through actions like that of the AMA, reimbursement for the service — the key to the evolution of any health care innovation — seems more assured.
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Dan Cook
Dan Cook is a journalist and communications consultant based in Portland, OR. During his journalism career he has been a reporter and editor for a variety of media companies, including American Lawyer Media, BusinessWeek, Newhouse Newspapers, Knight-Ridder, Time Inc., and Reuters. He specializes in health care and insurance related coverage for BenefitsPRO.
