Florida laws that pertain to telemedicine are precious few. In fact, there is really only one regulation dead on target, and that requires face to face physician contact with a patient in order to write a prescription. The impact of the hormone replacement therapy (HRT) providers was pretty immediate, but the legal issues related to telemedicine are just not currently addressed in Florida law. Does providing a telemedicine consult create a physician patient relationship? What are the requirements related to the medical records arising out of the consult, and who owns the records? These issues and many more are simply not handled. And yet, if it is true that telemedicine will be an important tool in the effort to both broaden the availability of care while reducing associated costs, we can be sure that Florida law will evolve on these issues.Continue reading
