Kommersant learned that the Ministry of Health opposed the expansion of telemedicine – RBC

Kommersant: The Ministry of Health sent a negative review to the project to expand telemedicine

The Ministry of Health opposed the introduction of an experimental legal regime in the field of telemedicine, which, among other things, allows diagnosis without a face-to-face appointment

The Ministry of Health sent a negative review to the project of the Ministry of Economic Development to introduce a three-year experimental legal regime (EPR) in the field of telemedicine in Russia. About it informs Kommersant, citing sources.

In October last year, the Ministry of Economic Development, as part of a three-year experiment, proposed allowing individual medical institutions to diagnose patients without the obligatory face-to-face consultation. The Medsi group, the SberHealth and Doctor Nearby online services, as well as the Nearmedic network of clinics, were proposed to be involved in the experiment. The program provides that other market participants will be able to join it if they meet the conditions.

The interlocutor of Kommersant, familiar with the course of the discussion, said that at a meeting in December, the Ministry of Health “was informed about the practice of remote provision of medical services in a pandemic in many countries.” At the same time, Ksenia Shekhovtsova, deputy medical director of Medsi Group of Companies, specified to the publication that the participants in the experiment failed to agree with the ministry on a number of fundamental points of the program.

According to her, it is primarily about minimizing the risk of providing poor-quality medical services in the case of remote interaction between a doctor and a patient. At the same time, according to Medsi, in 2021 the demand for online doctor-patient consultations increased by more than 1.5 times. “Thus, the need to transform the legislation in telemedicine is ripe,” Shekhovtseva emphasized.