Page 25 - Part 2 Introduction to Telemedicine

SVMIC Introduction to Telemedicine

be impaired. It might imply that specialists in smaller hospitals
should urge their patients to go to facilities outfitted to manage

extremely rare complications of common procedures.

While these risks and limitations are absolutely real, there has
traditionally been no requirement to highlight them in the usual

course of care. Most patients are not routinely asked to
acknowledge that:

 The lab might contaminate their specimens

 Surgical sterilizers sometimes malfunction

 Drug addicted nurses sometimes dilute the narcotics

 Hackers might steal their credit card data

It might be worthwhile disclosing some general terms that make a

telemedicine encounter different from face-to-face, like the
possibility that the provider may not be able to complete the

session remotely; but, the tendency should strongly be avoided to
create legalistic Terms of Use for telemedicine that resemble those

for software and other online services, which are deservingly

derided (and never read) because of their absurd lack of usability.

The fundamental principle of medical ethics is that there is a

fiduciary relationship between the doctor and patient. Nothing in

telemedicine changes that a bit.

A Quick Look at Payment

This course is not designed as a guide to reimbursement

strategies. The multiplicity of payers and policies and their rapidly
changing nature makes that almost impossible to do in this format.

Unquestionably, the future of telemedicine depends on the way

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