비대면 시대 원격의료의 정착을 위한 법제도 개선 방안

Abstract

In Korea, since Article 34 on telehealth between doctors and medical personnelwas newly established due to the revision of the Medical Act in 2002, sharpopinions between the government, the Korean Medical Association, and some civicgroups have been made on the expansion of telehealth between doctors and patients. There was a difference not only in policy goals, ideologies, and conflicts arisingfrom interests, but also in the definition of the concept of telehealth and the types oftelehealth allowed under Article 34 of the Medical Law. The latter problem is linkedto the interpretation of the phrase “direct examination” prescribed in Article 17 ofthe Medical Act, and the views of the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Courtare inconsistent. In such a complicated situation, the government tried to expandtelehealth by submitting an amendment to Article 34 of the Medical Law, but wasfrustrated by strong opposition from the Korean Medical Association and some civicgroups. However, the importance and necessity of telehealth in the medical field hasemerged as the corona virus that appeared at the end of 2019 and the prolongedpandemic phenomenon caused a change in a new lifestyle in which non-face-to-faceis common. In addition to the US, Japan, and China, telemedicine means remotediagnosis and prescriptions between doctors and patients, which was previouslyprohibited, although temporary, have become possible in Korea. Given the prospectthat the social change triggered by Corona 19 will continue to some extent in thefuture, it is necessary to review the legal system to establish telemedicine in Korea in the future. In this necessity, this paper first summarizes the discussions related totelemedicine accumulated so far based on the results of previous studies. Next, underthe basic premise that the legal system related to telemedicine after Corona 19should be designed in a way that focuses on the protection of the general public’sright to health, this paper reviews the main contents to be included in theamendment to Article 34 of the Medical Law and the guidelines to be applied to themedical field. Considering the enhancement of the status of telehealth in the post-corona era, thebasic contents of the government’s medical law amendment are generally agreed. Inaddition, in the course of debate between the government and the Korean MedicalAssociation, the basic principles such as face-to-face treatment for the first visit,non-face-to-face treatment centered on primary medical institutions, and patients withchronic or mental illness and patients with difficult access to medical treatment, wereagreed to some extent. However, some of the contents of the amendment need to be adjusted becauseinterpretation is unclear or immediate acceptance by the medical community isdifficult. In this thesis, re-establishment of the meaning of remoteness, betweentelemedicine and other types of telehealth and step-by-step implementation of theboth, and establishment of specific guidelines to be applied to the medical field aresuggested as major improvement measures.