{"id":8278,"date":"2020-09-25T13:04:35","date_gmt":"2020-09-25T17:04:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost:10028\/uncategorized\/virtual-healthcare-your-health-and-safety\/"},"modified":"2020-09-25T13:04:35","modified_gmt":"2020-09-25T17:04:35","slug":"virtual-healthcare-your-health-and-safety","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/napolilaw.lemonadestand.org\/en\/article\/virtual-healthcare-your-health-and-safety\/","title":{"rendered":"Virtual Healthcare: Your Health and Safety"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the spring and summer of 2020, virtual healthcare visits increased over 4,000 percent<\/a><\/u>, mostly due to the coronavirus outbreak.<\/p>\n

The number of healthcare facilities offering such services also increased significantly, mostly due to supply and demand.<\/p>\n

Previously, many facilities hesitated to offer such services, typically because of high implementation costs.<\/p>\n

Virtual healthcare contacts do not feel as formal as in-person doctor visits. But this informality does not reduce the doctor\u2019s duty of care.<\/p>\n

If anything, the facility has even more responsibilities, given issues like online security, accessibility issues, and online prescriptions.<\/p>\n

If the facility\u2019s level of care fell below an acceptable standard, and that lack of care caused injury, a personal injury attorney<\/a><\/u> might be able to obtain compensation for economic losses, such as medical bills, and noneconomic losses, such as pain and suffering.<\/p>\n

Additional punitive damages might be available as well, given a physician\u2019s high standard of care.<\/p>\n

Benefits of Virtual Healthcare<\/h2>\n

In the coronavirus age, virtual healthcare services have some concrete benefits, especially given the advanced internet infrastructure available.<\/p>\n

Over the past several years, due to a shortage of staff and patients, many rural healthcare facilities<\/strong> have closed. Virtual healthcare allows rural residents to access doctors who are not within driving distance.<\/p>\n

Broadband accessibility is sometimes a concern in this area. Almost twenty-five million Americans do not have reliable broadband access.<\/p>\n

The Federal Communications Commission\u2019s Connect America Fund<\/a><\/u> provides grants which allow communities to expand their broadband infrastructure.<\/p>\n

In addition to connecting patients with doctors, broadband connects urban specialists to rural hospitals and allows both rural patients and physicians to access a deeper pool of medical assistance.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, virtual healthcare increases patient satisfaction<\/strong>. Today\u2019s customers, including healthcare patients, expect a high level of convenience.<\/p>\n

They do not like to wait. Virtual healthcare helps significantly reduce wait time, thanks to tools like virtual check-in.<\/p>\n

Virtual healthcare also reduces costs by an average of $76 per visit. That\u2019s a significant savings, especially among cost-sensitive populations.<\/p>\n

Challenges of Virtual Healthcare<\/h2>\n

The virtual healthcare explosion does have some serious challenges to overcome. A failure to do so is arguably negligent.<\/p>\n

Privacy, fraud, and security concerns<\/strong> are perhaps the most obvious risk area. Physicians must conduct virtual healthcare contacts in private environments.<\/p>\n

That means no multitasking on a tablet or smartphone.<\/p>\n

If anyone is in a position to overhear anything, the visit violates the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act\u2019s privacy requirement.<\/p>\n

Additionally, some devices or platforms automatically send sensitive information to advertisers and other third parties.<\/p>\n

Housing data and substance abuse counselling are two examples. It\u2019s not always possible to disable this feature, or at least it\u2019s not always easy to do so.<\/p>\n

Security breaches, mostly due to malware placement or hacking activities, affect millions of patient records every year.<\/p>\n

The facility\u2019s cybersecurity infrastructure must be robust enough to deter and defeat these attacks. Unless the platform has a successful track record in the healthcare industry, it is probably inadequate.<\/p>\n

Virtual healthcare also involves licensure issues<\/strong>. All doctors must be licensed by a state\u2019s governing medical board.<\/p>\n

There is no internet exemption in this area. Virtual doctors cannot provide virtual services to patients in another state. Unlicensed physicians are incompetent as a matter of law.<\/p>\n

There is also no internet exemption to the medical standard of care.<\/p>\n

Doctors have a fiduciary duty<\/a><\/u> toward their patients, when it comes to things like accurately diagnosing illnesses. In a virtual environment, this duty is not always easy to fulfill.<\/p>\n

On a related note, federal and state laws limit online prescriptions of opioid painkillers and other controlled substances.<\/p>\n

Virtual doctors must be made aware of these laws. Also important to know is that Medicare only pays for virtual healthcare visits if the contacts meet certain requirements.<\/p>\n

Failure to adequately address these challenges could seriously injure patients. A data breach could affect thousands or millions of people, and a privacy breach could be equally disastrous.<\/p>\n

Typically, these victims have remedies in both civil and criminal court.<\/p>\n

Healthcare facilities have special responsibilities in the area of virtual healthcare visits.<\/p>\n

For a free consultation with an experienced medical malpractice lawyer<\/a><\/u>, contact Napoli Shkolnik . You may have a limited amount of time to act.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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