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Emerging Internet Telemedicine Issues

By Jonathan Bick
March 25, 2008
Internet telemedicine, in use to varying degrees for more than a decade and general technology-assisted telemedicine for much longer than that, is plagued by concern for patients whose physicians prescribe medication without a face-to-face examination.

The result has been that state boards of medical examiners and state legislatures throughout the country have initiated disciplinary hearings and legislation to limit a physician's ability to practice medicine without prior hands-on contact with a patient.

But emerging technology and medical advancements may be stifled by problems unique to Internet telemedicine. For instance, the next generation of pacemakers enables a doctor to audit and adjust the parameters of a pacemaker over the Internet. These devices face technological hurdles, such as communication privacy and device security. In addition, most states require prescriptions for changes to be made to pacemakers. Limiting Internet prescriptions, as is currently proposed in most states, would hobble or bring to a minimum the deployment of Internet-adjustable pacemakers.

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