Ethical Considerations of Telehealth: mHealthIntelligence Cites PHI’s CCHP

“Virtual care, which encompasses telehealth, remote patient monitoring (RPM), and more, has the potential to curb numerous barriers to healthcare. Virtual care services can increase healthcare access, enhance patient outcomes, and boost patient and provider satisfaction. However, for virtual care to achieve its full potential, healthcare providers must consider the ethical factors governing its use.

Virtual care is already integral to healthcare delivery, primarily due to the COVID-19 pandemic when in-person care was severely restricted. Telehealth visit volume rose to 76.6 million visits in the second quarter of 2020 before declining to 41.5 million visits in the fourth quarter of 2022, which is still far above pre-pandemic levels. Meanwhile, RPM claim volume soared 1,294 percent from January 2019 to November 2022.

Though the rise of virtual care was staggering, the rapid increases in adoption and use exposed the potential pitfalls of such technology. Here, mHealthIntelligence will take a deep dive into the critical ethical considerations of virtual care implementation.

Obtaining Informed Consent 
Informed consent is essential in any healthcare encounter. According to the American Medical Association’s (AMA) Code of Medical Ethics, the “process of informed consent occurs when communication between a patient and physician results in the patient’s authorization or agreement to undergo a specific medical intervention.”

Most states require health professionals to obtain informed consent for telehealth visits within their Medicaid programs or in their rules regulating healthcare providers, the Center for Connected Health Policy (CCHP) notes. These rules vary from state to state, however. While some mandate that healthcare professionals obtain informed consent at every telehealth visit, others only require informed consent for the first telehealth visit if there is more than one visit for the same condition.”

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Originally published by mHealthIntelligence