Telemedicine: The German Medical Association wants to relax the ban on "long-distance treatment"

Following on from the example of the Swiss, who have been providing telemedicine care around the clock since 2000, Germany now also wants to ease the ban on long-distance treatment nationwide, after the model project for exclusive remote treatment has started in the state of Baden-Württemberg. Telemedical networking is a great advantage, especially for rural areas where there is a shortage of doctors. The current code of practice for doctors prohibits exclusive counseling and treatment with the help of electronic means of communication, ie video, telephony or Skype. However, the German Medical Association (BÄK) wants to revolutionize the German healthcare system by allowing "exclusive consultation or treatment via electronic communication media, if this is medically acceptable in individual cases". Although the medical profession had resisted long-term treatment for years, it was decided in 2017 to relax the rules, so that online consultation is also possible if the doctor and the patient do not know each other personally. But here too there are specifications that must be complied with, including the fact that the doctor informs his patients about pure online counseling and then deposits a careful documentation of all treatments and findings.