Are telephone medical consults legal?
Yes. TelaDoc physician telephone consults meet all national and state-by-state legal and regulatory requirements. However, Teladoc is currently unavailable for use in TN & SC. Additionally, in April, 2002 The Federation of State Medical Boards set guidelines for telemedicine which are very favorable to physician telephone consults. Some salient statements include: “It is the expectation of the Board that interactions between physician and patient should supplement and enhance, but not replace crucial interpersonal interactions that create the very basis of the physician-patient relationship”, “A relationship is clearly established when a physician agrees to undertake diagnosis and treatment of a patient and the patient agrees, whether or not there has been a personal encounter between the physician and patient”.
