Edelstein S A
McDermott, Will & Emery, Los Angeles, California, USA.
Healthc Financ Manage. 1999 Dec;53(12):63-6, 68-9.
Recent Federal and state legislation and new payment opportunities from Medicare, Medicaid, and private payers may make it possible to offer telemedicine as a viable, cost-effective alternative to traditional care delivery in communities where access to health care is limited. Originally, nonexistent payment and expensive technology held back telemedicine but, these barriers are giving way to specific applications that can yield dramatic cost savings for group practices in the delivery of medical care while adding features and benefits not typically available in traditional delivery settings. Before joining a telemedicine network, group practices need to negotiate a variety of legal issues related to the corporate practice of medicine, patient confidentiality and privacy, malpractice, informed consent, licensure and credentialing, intellectual property, Medicare and Medicaid payment, fraud and abuse, medical device regulation, and antitrust.
近期联邦和州立法以及医疗保险、医疗补助和私人支付方提供的新支付机会，可能使远程医疗成为在医疗保健服务获取受限的社区中，作为传统医疗服务可行且具成本效益的替代方案得以提供。最初，缺乏支付手段和昂贵的技术阻碍了远程医疗，但这些障碍正让位于特定应用，这些应用可为集体医疗实践在提供医疗服务时大幅节省成本，同时增添传统医疗服务环境中通常没有的功能和益处。在加入远程医疗网络之前，集体医疗实践需要就与医疗法人执业、患者保密与隐私、医疗事故、知情同意、执照与资质、知识产权、医疗保险和医疗补助支付、欺诈与滥用、医疗器械监管以及反垄断等相关的各种法律问题进行协商。
