Ethical practice in Telehealth and Telemedicine

Area of Science:

• Medical Ethics
• Telehealth Law and Policy

Background:

• The American Medical Association's Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs (CEJA) maintains the AMA Code of Medical Ethics.
• CEJA reports undergo a rigorous deliberation process involving multiple stakeholders.
• Adopted recommendations become official AMA ethics policy, issued as Opinions in the Code.

Purpose of the Study:

• To provide ethical guidance for telehealth and telemedicine practices.
• To develop recommendations for ethical conduct in remote healthcare delivery.
• To ensure enduring guidance for the medical profession, independent of specific technologies.

Main Methods:

• Summarizing the CEJA report on ethical practice in telehealth.
• Reviewing the iterative process of CEJA report development and stakeholder input.
• Analyzing the adoption process by the AMA House of Delegates.

Main Results:

• CEJA developed broad guidance for ethical conduct in telehealth/telemedicine.
• Recommendations were debated in 2015 and adopted in June 2016.
• The final opinion, "Ethical Practice in Telemedicine" (E-1.2.12), was published in November 2016.

Conclusions:

• The AMA has established formal ethical guidelines for telemedicine.
• These guidelines aim to provide consistent ethical standards for remote patient care.
• The "Ethical Practice in Telemedicine" opinion offers a framework for physicians.