What are the medical malpractice issues when practicing telemedicine?
For telemedicine “face-to-face” encounters involving direct care of patients, most medical malpractice insurance covers only “face to face” encounters within the State in which the doctor practices and is licensed. Consequently, doctors who provide telemedicine services to patients outside of the State in which they are licensed can be exposed to uninsured claims if State law requires the physician to be licensed in the State where the test results are delivered. Some carriers assert that they are only required to cover claims against providers when the provider is performing medical services in the state where the carrier agreed to cover the provider. Some states protect providers of telemedicine services by forcing insurers to cover claims against the providers even if the claim arises from an out-of-state patient. Other states either exempt the insurer from providing the coverage or fail to address the issue at all. Obligations of malpractice insurance carriers must be examined on a
