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Review
. 2017 Oct;32(10):1136-1140.
doi: 10.1007/s11606-017-4082-2. Epub 2017 Jun 26.

Ethical practice in Telehealth and Telemedicine

Danielle Chaet  1 , Ron Clearfield  2 , James E Sabin  3   4 , Kathryn Skimming  5 ; Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs American Medical Association
Affiliations
Review

Ethical practice in Telehealth and Telemedicine

Danielle Chaet et al. J Gen Intern Med. 2017 Oct.

Abstract

This article summarizes the report of the American Medical Association's (AMA) Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs (CEJA) on ethical practice in telehealth and telemedicine. Through its reports and recommendations, CEJA is responsible for maintaining and updating the AMA Code of Medical Ethics (Code). CEJA reports are developed through an iterative process of deliberation with input from multiple stakeholders; report recommendations, once adopted by the AMA House of Delegates, become ethics policy of the AMA and are issued as Opinions in the Code. To provide enduring guidance for the medical profession as a whole, CEJA strives to articulate expectations for conduct that are as independent of specific technologies or models of practice as possible. The present report, developed at the request of the House of Delegates, provides broad guidance for ethical conduct relating to key issues in telehealth/telemedicine. The report and recommendations were debated at meetings of the House in June and November 2015; recommendations were adopted in June 2016 and published as Opinion E-1.2.12, Ethical Practice in Telemedicine, in November 2016. A summary of the key points of the recommendations can be found in Appendix A (online), and the full text of the opinion can be found in Appendix B (online).

Keywords: AMA (American Medical Association); ethics; policy; professionalism; telemedicine.

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Conflict of interest statement

Funding

The study was funded from the operating budget of the American Medical Association, which employs Ms. Chaet.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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