The Medical Software Industry Association has called on the Medical Board of Australia to think twice about imposing changes to telehealth rules, saying there could be "serious unintended" consequences.

In a statement, the peak organisation for the health technology industry noted "significant" oversights from the Medical Board's public consultation on its proposed telehealth guidelines. The suggested changes also "could limit access to care" for aged care residents and patients living in rural and remote areas, and "reduce the right of patients to choose their methods of accessing care."

WHY IT MATTERS

In particular, MSIA took a jab at the proposed technology regulations, such as on SMS-based prescriptions, which it said is "hazardous in a fast-moving technological world."

A new provision in the proposed guidelines explicitly discourages providing care and prescriptions to patients with whom a doctor has never consulted, whether in-person or via video or telephone. This includes text requests for medication not done in real-time and based on a health questionnaire filled out by a patient with whom a doctor has never spoken before. 

"Reducing avenues for medical attention by effectively disallowing virtual consultations with patients that doctors have not met could reduce safety for these individuals," MSIA CEO Emma Hossack said, stressing that limiting the use of effective technologies is "an analogue approach in a digital world." She further appealed that prescriptive rules for the use of technology must not restrain doctors from exercising professional judgment. 

Technology regulation, according to MSIA, should be based on "an overarching data governance framework developed by relevant stakeholders including doctors." 

THE LARGER CONTEXT

A news report previously cited a Medical Board spokesperson who said that they only intend to keep patients safe by proposing such a new regulation on providing care and prescriptions to first-time telehealth users. According to the same report, the board has already begun cracking down on practitioners who are conducting unsafe online prescribing following reports about doctors prescribing drugs of dependence via telehealth.

In its proposed changes to telehealth rules, which were released in December, the board expects practitioners to ensure that the standard of care they provide in a telehealth consultation is "safe and, as far as possible, meet[s] the same standards of care as provided in a face-to-face consultation." Practitioners must continuously assess the appropriateness of telehealth consultation and whether conducting a physical examination of a patient is necessary. It is the board's stance that while there are benefits of using telehealth, "it is not appropriate for all medical consultations and should not be considered a substitute for face-to-face consultations." 

Meanwhile, there is also a proposal to change the term "technology-based consultations" with "telehealth" as the latter has seen increasing usage over the years. In its comments, the Australasian Institute of Digital Health recommended replacing the term instead with virtual care, which it claims to be broader. "Virtual care, in many instances and circumstances, can be perfectly capable of providing the high-quality level of care and outcomes without the supplemental need of in-person presence," CEO Dr Louise Schaper said.