It Was Convenient, But... Will Non-Face-to-Face Medical Service Users Plummet Starting Next Month?

Prohibition of Medicine Delivery Centered on Revisit Principle
Ministry of Health and Welfare: "Not Final... Will Be Confirmed Before Implementation"

The government has set a principle to allow non-face-to-face medical consultations only for returning patients starting next month. Patients must submit medical data proving their return visit to the platform, and they must also pick up their medication in person, which is expected to cause a sharp decline in the number of users of non-face-to-face consultations. The platform industry lamented, “If this continues, the industry will gradually face bankruptcies one by one.”

Non-face-to-face medical consultation reference photo. [Image source=Yonhap News]

According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s “Non-Face-to-Face Medical Consultation Pilot Project Plan,” which was introduced to fill the legislative gap following the downgrade of the crisis level (from severe to caution), many forms of non-face-to-face consultations temporarily allowed during the COVID-19 pandemic will disappear. First, initial consultations will be allowed only in a limited way, focusing mainly on returning visits with a set period. For example, chronic patients who received face-to-face consultations at Medical Institution A can receive non-face-to-face consultations at the same institution within one year, and patients with other conditions within 30 days. However, it is uncertain whether the medical institutions used by patients will implement non-face-to-face consultations, and there are criticisms that the utilization cycle for non-face-to-face consultations is set too short unless the patient has conditions like hypertension or diabetes.

Patients who received face-to-face consultations must anticipate receiving non-face-to-face consultations within a certain period and request medical information from the medical institution in advance. Doctors judge whether the patient is eligible for non-face-to-face medical use based on the patient information received from the non-face-to-face platform. A representative from the Remote Medical Industry Council said, “It has not been discussed whether a third-party intermediary connecting doctors and patients can legally receive medical information under the Medical Service Act,” and “I don’t know what role this pilot project assigns to the industry.”

However, initial consultations are allowed for confirmed patients with legally designated infectious diseases of levels 1 to 4, residents of islands and mountainous areas, and elderly people with mobility difficulties. Recently, to address the “pediatric crisis” caused by a surge in children with colds, a plan to allow initial pediatric consultations during holidays and nighttime was proposed but was not included due to opposition from the medical community. Regarding this, a parenting community posted complaints such as “The pediatric ‘open run’ will only get worse” and “Taking annual leave has become inevitable.”

Medications must be picked up in person by the patient or their guardian at the pharmacy. This is based on opinions from the medical and pharmaceutical sectors expressing concerns about misuse and incorrect delivery. Platforms cannot automatically assign pharmacies to patients and must show all pharmacies near the user. Further discussion is needed regarding exceptions for medication delivery. A user of a non-face-to-face medical consultation platform, Mr. B, said, “Earlier this year, when I had COVID-19 and couldn’t leave the house due to full-body muscle pain, I received medication via quick delivery,” adding, “If I have to pick it up in person, there is no real reason to use non-face-to-face consultations.”

The Ministry of Health and Welfare stated that the plan prepared through government-party consultations is not the final version and intends to finalize it by reflecting expert opinions before the pilot project officially begins on the 1st of next month. However, a partial retreat from the non-face-to-face consultation services, which were temporarily allowed and used by many patients, has become inevitable. An industry representative said, “Everything is urgent, such as hiring additional developers to build services according to the changed guidelines,” and “It is regrettable that the government announced this hastily without communication with the industry, despite having at least two years to create guidelines.”

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