Foreign patients will also be able to receive telemedicine starting next year. As the number of foreign patients visiting Korea surpassed 2 million last year, the government decided to improve access to K-health care.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare said on the 26th that a revision to the Act on Support for Overseas Expansion of Medical Services and Attraction of International Patients (Overseas Expansion of Medical Services Act), which includes these measures, has been promulgated. The law will take effect one year after promulgation.
Under the revision, physicians, dentists and Korean medicine doctors affiliated with medical institutions that attract foreign patients can use IT technologies to conduct initial consultations. Consultations, education, diagnosis and prescriptions for follow-up care are also allowed. However, if procedures or methods are violated when treating foreign patients via telemedicine, the institution's registration as an attracting medical institution may be revoked.
The Medical Service Act revision taking effect in December will allow telemedicine for domestic patients. But applying it to foreign patients is difficult, so separate rules were needed, the ministry said. Minister Jung Eun-kyeong said, "We will enhance trust in K-health care by institutionalizing telemedicine."