Twisted Non-Face-to-Face Medical Care Legislation... Complicated Platform Calculations

The Ministry of Health and Welfare's strong push for the 'legislation of non-face-to-face medical treatment (telemedicine)' has reached a crossroads. The legislation of non-face-to-face medical treatment is one of the Yoon Seok-yeol administration's national agenda items. Non-face-to-face medical treatment involves medical consultations and prescriptions without the doctor and patient meeting in person. On the 24th, the first subcommittee of the Health and Welfare Committee discussed the amendment to the Medical Service Act, which includes the legislation of non-face-to-face medical treatment, but postponed the review to the next subcommittee. This marks the third failure following March and June of this year. With major schedules such as the regular National Assembly session in September, the National Audit in October, and budget review in November, it is practically difficult to reconsider the issue within this year.

◆Why did the bill fail to pass the subcommittee?=Inside the Ministry of Health and Welfare, there was an expectation that the bill would pass the standing committee this month, believing that bipartisan agreement had been reached. However, during the meeting, opposition voices mainly from opposition party lawmakers continued. There were claims that no measures were in place to address problems revealed in the pilot project, such as drug misuse and prescription forgery. In particular, Jeon Hye-sook, a Democratic Party lawmaker with a pharmacist background, strongly opposed the legislation of non-face-to-face medical treatment. She criticized the current pilot project, which focuses on follow-up visits, and argued that non-face-to-face medical treatment should only be allowed for those with mobility difficulties.

Non-face-to-face medical treatment has been conducted only as a pilot project for over 30 years since the remote video diagnosis pilot project began in 1988. It reached a turning point after the COVID-19 pandemic. According to Ministry of Health and Welfare data, 13.79 million people used non-face-to-face medical treatment during the three years of the COVID-19 outbreak. Current law permits non-face-to-face medical treatment only when the infectious disease crisis alert level is 'serious' or higher. When the alert level was downgraded in June, the legal basis for non-face-to-face medical treatment disappeared. To prevent a legislative gap, the government has continued the pilot project since June. The three-month grace period for the pilot project ends on the 31st of this month.

◆Opposition from the medical community and civic groups=The medical community insists on strengthening regulations on platform companies. The Korean Medical Association stated, "In the non-face-to-face medical treatment pilot project, side effects such as exaggerated advertising by platforms, inducement of patients, and drug misuse occurred," emphasizing the need to strengthen management and supervision of illegal activities by non-face-to-face medical treatment intermediary platforms. The association also proposed principles including banning initial non-face-to-face medical treatment in pediatric and adolescent night (holiday) care, setting specific criteria for those allowed initial non-face-to-face medical treatment, clarifying legal responsibility for non-face-to-face medical treatment, and opposing misuse related to prescribing non-reimbursable drugs via non-face-to-face medical treatment. Civic groups opposed non-face-to-face medical treatment itself, claiming it commercializes healthcare.

◆Platform industry heading toward closure=The non-face-to-face medical treatment platform industry is heading toward closure. Some platforms have ceased operations during the pilot project period. Platform companies such as DoctorNow and Namanui Doctor are scaling down or stopping their businesses by the end of this month, coinciding with the pilot project's grace period. During the COVID-19 outbreak, even initial consultations could be conducted non-face-to-face, and medications could be delivered. However, in the pilot project, only follow-up visits were allowed non-face-to-face, and medication delivery was not permitted. Consequently, the number of users decreased. According to data from the Remote Medical Industry Council, the average daily number of non-face-to-face medical treatment requests dropped from 5,000 in May to 3,500 in August. The refusal rate for hospital medical treatment requests nearly doubled.

The National Assembly Legislative Research Office stated in its '2023 National Audit Issue Analysis' report, "As the pilot project progresses, it is necessary to analyze how much the institutionalization of non-face-to-face medical treatment will increase medical accessibility and patient convenience, and what positive and negative impacts it will have on the quantity and quality of medical services and the medical delivery system."

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