Earlier this month, the American Medical Association House of Delegates chose to defer publication of guidelines for ethical practice in telemedicine at its 2015 Interim Meeting. The ethics policy is intended to provide standards for ensuring patient privacy and education, specifically with respect to the limitations of telemedicine, the need for coordinated care, and the importance of follow up treatment. Once published, physicians would be expected to abide by the guidelines and conduct themselves accordingly.
After reviewing the policy, the delegates requested that the AMA Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs implement revisions prior to publication. The revision recommendations are primarily focused on the fact that currently, there is a lack of guidance with respect to medical liability within the scope of telemedicine and that some guidelines were impractical for physicians practicing within a specialty. Additional recommended revisions consisted of incorporating guidance related to financial disclosure in circumstances in which a physician has an interest in a telehealth application or service, confirming patient identity, and assessing whether telehealth is an appropriate medium for diagnosis or treatment of a patient’s condition.
Frier Levitt will provide further updates on the status of the AMA ethics policy as it becomes available.
