Australia tightens telehealth guidelines – others to follow?
Few sectors evolve as quickly as healthcare and the changes bring with them a raft of developing exposures and liabilities to understand and address.
One of the fastest movers is telehealth. Technology has transformed the way patients and professionals can communicate with each other, although regulators and legislators are determined to ensure speed and convenience don’t come at the expense of patient care.
Recent changes in Australia are likely to be forerunners to changes introduced around the world. How would they impact your clients and how well are they prepared if similar guidelines come their way?
What’s happened?
The Australian Medical Board, which develops standards, codes and guidelines for the country’s medical profession, has revised its Telehealth Guidelines. The changes will take effect from 1 September 2023.
The changes come on the back of a public consultation, which generated more than 750 submissions.
Why are the new guidelines important?
While guidelines are not law in Australia, they’re used to assist the Australian Medical Board in its role of protecting the public. Guidelines set standards of medical practice against which a doctor’s professional conduct can be evaluated.
Serious or repeated failure to meet these standards has consequences on their registration and ability to practice. So, while the guidelines might not be law, practitioners need to adhere to them if they want to stay in business.
What’s changed?
In short, lots. The current guidelines came out in 2012, long before the COVID-19 pandemic had accelerated the world’s move to remote communications. One section of the new guidelines that will be of particular interest to telehealth providers seeking to understand and mitigate their exposures, is entitled: “Prescribing or providing healthcare if you have never had a real-time consultation with the patient”.
The guidelines state that: “Prescribing or providing healthcare for a patient without a real-time direct consultation, whether in-person, via video or telephone, is not good practice and is not supported by the Board.
“This includes asynchronous requests for medication… based on the patient completing a health questionnaire, when the practitioner has never spoken with the patient.
“Any practitioner who prescribes for patients in these circumstances must be able to explain how the prescribing and the management of the patient was appropriate and necessary in the circumstances.”
What this means for telehealth companies?
Some companies will have to re-visit their business model. While the Australian Medical Board generally doesn’t have authority over companies, it does regulate doctors. If a doctor can’t practice, the company can’t provide a service and so the two are inextricably linked.
Some of the biggest companies operating in Australia have released statements in support of the guidelines. They have confirmed they will implement changes before they come into force in September.
If other companies and the doctors who work for them decide not to comply with the new guidelines, they’re likely to face a rash of investigations and potential interventions from the Australian Medical Board.
International implications
It will be interesting to see whether Australia’s new guidelines influence other international regulators and legislators. What’s for sure is that other countries are unlikely to reduce the existing standards of practice they have in place and will seek to improve patient outcomes wherever possible.
In short, this means practitioners should expect the rules and regulations regarding telehealth to become more prescriptive in the near future.
To find out more about digital healthcare, or CFC’s award-winning eHealth policy please contact HealthcareUKIntl@cfc.com.