Telehealth medicine is intended to provide more convenience and accessibility to the patient. With its dramatic increase in usage and popularity through the COVID-19 pandemic, telehealth visits across medical specialties remain in high demand.
Let’s explore the risks and liability involved in telehealth practice.
Medical Care Involves Risks and Liability
In the best circumstances and adherence to established standards of care, healthcare involves risks and liability whether patients visit their providers in person or via telehealth video connection. While today’s remarkable technology allows for easy face-to-face communication, it does create some risks and liability previously unheard of in the traditional setting.
The risks and liability for healthcare providers in telehealth practice include:
- Misdiagnosed or undiagnosed injuries, diseases, or conditions
- Inherent limitations of video-based visits (inability to assess breath sounds or lymph nodes and other hands-on examinations)
- Patient’s lack of understanding of a medical condition or prescribed treatment or drug (also inherent in in-person visits)
- Lost or stolen patient information
- HIPAA compliance (privacy and confidentiality)
- Errors in keeping the patient record accurate and up to date
- Billing errors
- License violations (providers must be licensed to practice in their own states and in the states their telehealth patients live)
- Lack of or inadequate follow-up care
In fact, medical risk-management experts report that a full 66 percent of malpractice claims across the United States are related to incorrect or missed diagnoses of medical conditions, injuries, or diseases.
How to Counter Cyber Liability
No matter how or where a healthcare provider practices, mistakes and accidents happen. A-list medical malpractice insurance carriers offer physicians of all specialties, nurse practitioners, RNs, physical therapists, physician’s assistants, and other providers the ways and means to stay current on best medical practices in the cyber world and in the clinical setting.
Most specifically for telemedicine, our trusted and respected malpractice insurance carriers advise that healthcare providers:
- Obtain informed patient consent for all procedures recommended through telehealth visits
- Document all patient interactions via laptop, smartphone, or other video conference method (in other words, diligently and consistently maintain the patient’s chart in the same way as in-person visits)
- Protect the patient’s privacy by ensuring your information technology network is fully protected against data breaches
- Follow-up with subsequent telehealth or in-office consultations to ensure patients understand and follow their care plans accurately
Malpractice Insurance for Telehealth in Texas
At eQuoteMD, our medical malpractice insurance specialists literally shop for the best coverage and best rates for providers active in all 50 states. Whatever your specialty, we can show you what best practices should entail so you and your patients are protected, and we will custom-tailor your medical malpractice policy to include telehealth visits and other risk and liability protection needs.
To find out more about keeping you and your patients safe, call our St. Louis, Missouri office at (855) 857-8746, or you can request a detailed insurance quote online through our website. We help protect healthcare providers in all medical specialties practicing in every state.
