On the effectiveness of regulatory restrictions in conducting telemedicine consultations

Abstract

The article examines the introduction of an experimental legal regime in the field of telemedicine in the Russian Federation. The authors investigate the general and experimental legal regulation in the field of telemedicine services. It is noted that the main prohibition leading to the emergence of the services in the field of medicine is a ban on clarifying and directly making a diagnosis within the framework of a remote consultation without prior face-to-face appointment with the attending physician. When establishing an experimental legal regime, this prohibition was relaxed, since it is possible to seek remote consultation from another doctor working in the same medical organization and having at least 7 years of experience in the specialty. It is stated that the information services that appeared to circumvent this prohibition are actually medical. In the course of the research, general scientific methods of cognition of the surrounding reality and legal matter, as well as special legal methods, including formal legal ones, were used to achieve these goals. It is noted that when establishing, within the framework of an experimental legal regime, the possibility of prescribing treatment or correcting it by another doctor working in the same medical organization as the attending physician who conducted the preliminary face-to-face appointment of the patient, medical organizations with an extensive network of branches receive advantages for development. In such a situation, it is possible to form two levels of medical care: within the framework of the first, primary face-to-face reception is carried out by the primary link of medical workers, within the framework of the second, specialized doctors conduct remote consultation to the patient (legal representative). The establishment of a ban on diagnosis and restrictions on the prescription of treatment remotely has led to the spread of shady online counseling services. Due to the motives and goals of the patient when accessing such a service, it is essentially medical.