Seoul City Detects 7 Cases of Illegal Medical Practices in Telemedicine... Prescription of Prescription Drugs Without Remote Consultation

Two Clinics, Four Pharmacies, and One Platform Company Caught for Illegal Activities Exploiting Telemedicine Loopholes
Various Illegal Practices Including Patient Inducement Through Copayment Exemption and Unqualified Drug Dispensing

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] The Seoul Metropolitan Government's Civil Affairs Judicial Police Unit announced on the 15th that, following information that illegal activities related to non-face-to-face medical consultations, temporarily permitted and operated since March 2020, have been occurring, they investigated since last year and uncovered seven locations including one platform company, two medical institutions, and four pharmacies.

Since non-face-to-face medical consultations were permitted, the number of non-face-to-face medical consultation platform (app) companies has increased to more than 30, providing a series of medical-related services such as hospital search, appointment booking, waiting time guidance, prescription management, and medicine delivery, resulting in a rapid increase in app users. Among the non-face-to-face medical consultation apps, there have been concerns about illegal services such as ‘prescription of specific drugs,’ ‘automatic matching of hospitals and pharmacies,’ ‘designation of regular doctors,’ and ‘delivery of over-the-counter drugs.’

The Civil Affairs Judicial Police Unit uncovered the following cases through an eight-month investigation into non-face-to-face medical consultations. First, Clinic A located in the metropolitan area was caught issuing prescriptions without notifying patients and omitting medical acts when patients selected hair loss medication and requested non-face-to-face consultations.

Additionally, Clinic B in Seocho-gu was caught for exempting patients from co-payments. Clinic B encouraged patients by promising to prescribe well-known allergy medication at a cheaper price than purchasing directly from pharmacies and waived co-payments. However, it was confirmed that health insurance benefits, amounting to several times the co-payment, were claimed normally. The Medical Service Act strictly prohibits inducing patients by exempting co-payments or similar methods.

In the case of Pharmacy C in Seoul, it was found that unqualified personnel prepared medicines by exploiting the fact that non-face-to-face prescriptions are prepared without patient visits. This pharmacy was under investigation for preparing and delivering medicines different from the prescriptions, and during the process, the involvement of unqualified personnel was additionally revealed. Since patients receive medicines delivered to their homes, there is no way to verify who prepared the medicine, and there was no medication guidance via phone, making it practically impossible to crack down on unqualified preparation activities.

Furthermore, regarding illegal activities by non-face-to-face medical consultation platforms themselves, although general over-the-counter medicines such as cold remedies must be purchased directly at pharmacies, three pharmacies were caught illegally delivering home medicine orders placed through a ‘delivery of over-the-counter drugs’ service function embedded in non-face-to-face medical consultation apps.

Issuing prescriptions without examining patients in relation to non-face-to-face medical consultations is punishable by up to one year imprisonment or a fine of up to 10 million KRW under the Medical Service Act, and unqualified persons preparing medicines at pharmacies are subject to up to five years imprisonment or a fine of up to 50 million KRW under the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act.

Kang Ok-hyun, head of the Seoul Civil Affairs Judicial Police Unit, said, "Even when non-face-to-face consultations are unavoidable, medical institutions and pharmacies responsible for the health of the people should pay attention to ensure no illegal activities occur," and added, "We will strictly investigate acts that threaten citizens' health."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.