Legal interfaces in telemedicine technology

Telemedicine, an emerging technology which seeks to use advanced telecommunications equipment to enhance medical care, is progressing rapidly in the Department of Defense health care delivery system. This paper recommends that a cautious, preventive law approach be simultaneously initiated to ensure that the technology does not abridge patients' rights to confidentiality or security of medical records, and that agreement on practice parameters be developed. Seven interfaces, in the areas of informed consent, physician liability, non-physician liability, costs, practice parameters, physician-patient relationships, and ergonomics, are discussed in the context of telemedicine. The author recommends that telemedicine pioneers include the legal community's early input in the application of telemedicine technology to help avoid needless litigation.