Telemedicine services
Can a foreign physician residing outside of USA provides a US patient residing in USA with any telemedicine services?
Tags: telemedicine
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Roshan Shah on -
Yes - absolutely.
Telemedicine and Second Opinion Services are now becoming very popular with Medical Tourism.
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Permalink Reply by Faisal A. Sami, M.D. on -
Dion, my previous post got somehow deleted. Short answer, no. To practice medicine in the United States you need a state medical license even for telemedicine. An attorney expert in this field should be able to help.
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Permalink Reply by Roshan Shah on
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Faisal,
If I am not wrong, Dion is asking more about a Foreign physician residing outside of US helpign US patients remotely via phone consultations/video. To my knowledge this is fine and already happening.
Correct me if I am wrong here. If a patient decides to get second opinion from third world country physician, US laws can't regulate the patient - not to speak with someone outside the country for second opinion neither can they restrict the foreign doctor to provide advise, consulting US patients.
Roshan
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Permalink Reply by Faisal A. Sami, M.D. on
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Roshan
I think the distinction needs to be made between practicing medicine, i.e. diagnosing and treating disease from giving information, education or an opinion. Patients from the US can go physically or virtually anywhere in the world to get opinions.
However, let's say a patient has a chronic condition like diabetes or high blood pressure and lives in the US. For a physician to diagnose and treat that patient, the physician needs to be licensed in the US. This becomes especially important if the physician attempts to bill insurance or medicare or even charge the patient directly. There are very strict laws in regards to this. But no one can stop the patient to get information,education or opinions from physicians outside the US. Its just that those international physicians can not advertise and bill insurance in the United States. Hope this helps.
Faisal
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Permalink Reply by Dion Park on -
Thats weird, it did get deleted. Its a good thing I made a copy.
Dion
The short answer is no. The long answer is also no. For a foreign
physician to provide medical services in the United States the
physician must first get licensed by a State in the United States.
To get a license the physician would have to do an accredited
residency in the US. Then to get work from a hospital must get
privileged and credentialed at that hospital. But in order to offer
services to the general public a state license is a must. Without a
state license,practicing medicine is a felony crime. I practice
teleradiology 100% on a full time basis and I am licensed in every
state in which I practice.
As far as Roshan's point below, there is a market for second opinion
services. As far as I know the second opinion service would have to
be performed OUTSIDE of the United States and not bill any US
insurer or medicare. Primary,secondary or tertiary medical care via
telemedicine still falls under the jurisdiction of the states. Some
states now have telemedicine licenses but physicians need to have
same US credentials.
Faisal A. Sami, M.D.
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Permalink Reply by Faisal A. Sami, M.D. on
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cool, glad you had it
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Permalink Reply by Dr. Sanjeev Mehta on -
You have to follow law of land every where including USA for any medical treatment including Telemedicine. I am a member of American Telemedicine Association and doing Telemedicine since 9 yrs.
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Permalink Reply by Faisal A. Sami, M.D. on
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Agree
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Permalink Reply by Dr.Ayyappan on -
As a Cosmetic Surgeon doing telemedicine for many years,iam curious and will try answering this,difficult to answer..yes and no
yes because it is happening in this global village,I as a Sr.Consultant Cosmetic surgeon do interact with patients through portals like allexperts.com, where i have been chosen based on my credentials,qualification and experience with 5 other senior plastic surgeonsfrom US,UK etc.Patients from US,UK,and otherparts of the world ask questions and 2nd opinions,these are answered on a regular basis by me.
no because you need a valid license to practice medicine in another country like US.But I would love to hear from others how this is being regulated
Dr.Ayyappan
http://www.plasticsurgeryindia.net
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Permalink Reply by Faisal A. Sami, M.D. on
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Dr.Ayyappan
That's wonderful. I think patients can benefit from the expertise of physicians from around the world.
Faisal
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Permalink Reply by Dr.Ayyappan on
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Thank you,pl visit www.plasticsurgeryindia.net
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