The future of telehealth regulation in the COVID era: US and Korea

In a matter of weeks, the US medical system dramatically transformed. Regulatory hurdles were lifted, making way for telehealth to explode. Suddenly, HIPAA-compliant video conferencing, value-based care, and procedure pay rates became hot topics.

Pre-COVID, these bureaucratic regulations weren’t anywhere near being removed, but the pandemic thrust the industry decades into the future in a matter of weeks.

The US wasn’t alone in this radical shift. Pre-COVID, South Korea’s laws “totally and explicitly” banned telehealth. Once the pandemic hit, The Ministry of Health and Welfare announced that physicians could offer remote services.

Both governments lifted regulations as temporary measures to combat COVID-19. As the virus continues, though, many believe that these changes should be permanent – and practitioners need long-term HIPAA-compliant communication solutions to meet growing telehealth demands.

Removing the hurdles was only the first step

When the virus began, it became evident that our medical systems weren’t able to function as usual. It wasn’t safe to have potential COVID-positive patients near other patients.

But people still needed regular healthcare. To address these concerns, the US made significant changes to bureaucratic red tape to make telemedicine more accessible.

• On March 6, 2020, the Coronavirus Preparedness and Response Supplemental Appropriations Act was passed, loosening existing telehealth restrictions. It primarily ensured that care providers could not be penalized for HIPAA privacy violations that occurred while providing telehealth care during COVID. Before this change, care providers could be held liable if their HIPAA-compliant video conferencing application or software had a privacy breach. This dissuaded many care providers from using telehealth before the virus.
• On the same day, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that it was removing existing barriers to receive telehealth services for Medicare and Medicaid patients.
• On March 27, the CARES Act provided additional funding and flexibility for telemedicine providers.

While these changes seemed revelatory in the US, the shift to telemedicine was even more dramatic in Korea. On February 22, The Ministry of Health and Welfare said, “At the doctor’s discretion, and when the doctor can secure safety, patients can temporarily receive phone consultations and prescriptions without having to visit a medical institution.”

Unlike the US, South Korea didn’t have existing telehealth structures set up: it was completely new territory. Existing Korean medical regulations strictly prohibited remote care pre-COVID.

In both countries, the changes were swift, and they altered the public’s perception of the medical system. Still, not everyone welcomed them. While many people advocate for the continued expansion of telemedicine, others feel like these provisions should remain temporary.

To continue telehealth or not to continue?

The new Korean telemedicine regulations were met with swift opposition from The Korean Medical Association (KMA), an organization representing over 105,000 doctors throughout the country. Their primary complaints related to the lack of existing infrastructure and preparedness.

Additionally, the doctors argued that they couldn’t effectively treat patients or collect samples over the phone. They can only monitor them, which they fear could lead to misdiagnoses and delayed treatment.

The KMA also expressed its concerns about how telehealth could affect smaller clinics. If people have the option to go to any facility, they felt patients were more likely to choose the University or big-name facilities, leaving the smaller practitioners in the dust.

The organization also found the new Korean telemedicine regulations to be in direct opposition to the Medical Service Act, which categorizes all hospitals as nonprofits that reinvest their earnings into the operation. For-profit branches are expressly forbidden. They feared that telehealth is a business-motivated move rather than a patient-centric one.

The situation in the US is nearly the opposite. US medical care is big business, and many telemedicine opponents argue that telehealth doesn’t provide adequate compensation for services rendered. Practitioners all over the United States are currently battling insurance companies to be paid for telemedicine services.

Insurance companies feel that doctors shouldn’t be paid the same rate for a phone visit as an in-person visit. Doctors contend that they should be. Proponents of telemedicine argue that doctors need incentives to continue the growth of telemedicine. Cutting their pay isn’t the way to do it.

This heated debate has urged many experts to reexamine the current fee-for-service model, and instead, consider a value-based model. In this system, doctors aren’t paid per service but are compensated for providing thorough patient care.

If the pay scale wasn’t contentious enough, the issue of privacy also remains a top concern. Finding HIPAA-compliant video conferencing platforms isn’t straightforward. Many physicians and facilities are currently using Facetime or other services that do not offer HIPAA-compliant chat or video calling.

Opponents argue that until the US sets more specific legislation surrounding physician responsibility in a data-sharing world, we shouldn’t continue using telehealth.

Telemedicine isn’t going anywhere soon

Despite the opposition, it’s clear that telehealth has a critical role to play during the COVID-19 pandemic – especially since no one is sure how long we’ll be dealing with this virus.

For now, many practitioners in the US are focusing on improving their telemedicine communication systems. One priority is integrating HIPAA-compliant video conferencing and streamlining communication with patients, providers, and staff to ensure a seamless patient care experience.

In Korea, care providers are focusing on building infrastructure and a workable system while maintaining patient privacy.

If you’re a medical provider in either country, providing HIPAA-compliant video conferencing and HIPAA-compliant chat isn’t always simple. Here at Sendbird, we’ve offered a HIPAA-compliant chat API since before COVID, so we’ve had plenty of time to perfect a quick and easy-to-implement solution for our healthcare customers. By opting for an integrated HIPAA-compliant chat, voice, and video solution built for you, organizations can get to market and start serving patients faster.

Curious about the process? Check out our HIPAA-Compliant Messaging guide to learn how to choose a HIPAA-compliant communication channel for your organization. Click here to get your copy.