The (New) Civil Telemedicine Framework: Construction of a Healthy Regulatory Environment for New Telemedicine Practices

Abstract

The present work seeks to provide subsidies for the regulation of telemedicine in Brazil. With the outbreak of Covid-19, new normative instruments were created in a hurry to regulate the offer remote medical attention, with the use of synchronous information technologies. However, both the Brazilian Law on Telemedicine, and the Brazilian Federal Council of Medicine Regulation that followed it and authorized the use of telemedicine, were silent in relation to the limits and parameters applicable for the offer of telemedicine services. Although telemedicine services are not a new phenomenon in Brazil, they have historically been provided in an environment of strong legal uncertainty. This scenario is detrimental both for the companies that lose the opportunity to invest into capacities to offer these services, and for the patients who are obliged to use telemedicine services in a lightly regulated and potentially damaging regulatory environment. Based on these considerations, we present certain sensitive points that deserve further attention from legislators and main stakeholders concerning the regulation of telemedicine, including themes such as telephysician-patient relations, telephysician responsibility, electronic medical records, among others. The regulation of these topics can increase legal certainty and regulatory clarity and step into the direction of the construction of a healthy regulatory environment for these new telemedicine practices.