Possible Legal Issues with Telehealth and How the Technology Provides Clear Path to Ethical Practice in Future

Telehealth is the delivery of healthcare remotely through technology. Telehealth is useful in promoting wellness and disease awareness, educating providers and patients because of its innovative technologies like mobile phone applications, website monitoring applications, videoconferencing, and wearable technology (Marcoux & Vogenberg, 2016). Despite these benefits, there are legal issues associated with it. For instance, telehealth licensing differs across states, thus limiting its widespread application. There lacks standardized regulatory and legal frameworks to guide the adoption of telehealth. 

Similarly, the absence of standardized laws creates reimbursement dilemmas due to a lack of consistency in regulations that supports telehealth use in care delivery (Marcoux & Vogenberg, 2016). Patient privacy is a legal issue that needs to be addressed when using telehealth. Therefore, healthcare providers should comply with state and federal security and privacy laws when using telehealth to avoid data breaches. Additionally, hospital administrators should educate their staff about security laws like the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act and Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act to enhance individual compliance with these laws when accessing Protected Health Information.

 Telehealth provides a clear path to ethical practice in future.  The healthcare sector’s technology adoption provides significant insights into the new legal challenges that will emerge with information and communication technology use in the healthcare sector. Therefore, healthcare organizations should create technology ethics committees to address ethical challenges associated with technology adoption in the healthcare setting

Conclusion

  Rural healthcare faces operational and financial challenges that undermine individuals’ access to care. For instance, the facilities face workers shortage and patients have to travel long distances to access care. As a result, they delay seeking care, leading to the overuse of the emergency department. Rural facilities can use information and communication technologies, like telehealth to facilitate inter-professional collaboration, disease prevention, and community education. However, stakeholders should address the legal issues associated with technology use in care delivery.

References

Dogba, M. J., Dossa, A. R., Breton, E., & Gandonou-Migan, R. (2019). Using information and communication technologies to involve patients and the public in health education in rural and remote areas: a scoping review. BMC health services research, 19(1), 1-7.