Given telemedicine’s rapid expansion, experience and litigation in this area are limited. The one thing that the current litigation trend shows is that physicians must be particularly careful when treating patients outside of the state in which they practice, both with regard to entering into a patient-physician relationship, making a diagnosis, and particularly when prescribing medication. As patients and physicians enjoy the benefits of this new method of providing medical care, they must be careful to follow the evolving telemedicine litigation and legislative landscape.
Dr. Skolnik is associate director of the family medicine residency program at Abington (Pa.) Memorial Hospital and professor of family and community medicine at Temple University in Philadelphia. Mr. Jones and Ms. Dandy are both attorneys at Marks, O’Neill, O’Brien, Doherty & Kelly, P.C. in Philadelphia.
Note: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that the FSMB had recommended a national licensure and practice standard.