"Significant Expansion of Telemedicine Eligibility... Virtually No Distinction Between Initial and Follow-up Visits"

Medical Institution Home Visits Within 6 Months → Remote Consultations Available for Any Condition
Anyone Can Receive Remote Consultations During Nighttime and Holidays

The government will significantly expand the range of patients eligible for non-face-to-face medical consultations.

From now on, if a patient has had an in-person consultation at a hospital or clinic within the past six months, they will be able to receive non-face-to-face consultations for any illness. Since September, non-face-to-face consultations have been a pilot project, allowing patients to receive such consultations only for the same illness after an in-person visit. Additionally, regardless of this, anyone will be able to receive non-face-to-face consultations during medically vulnerable times such as holidays and nighttime. On the 1st, the Ministry of Health and Welfare announced supplementary measures for the non-face-to-face consultation pilot project reflecting these changes.

This is interpreted as the government’s determination, having declared itself a strong nation in the bio and digital health sectors, to prevent non-face-to-face consultations from becoming a meaningless system.

Non-face-to-face consultations became a pilot project after a three-month guidance period following the downgrade of the COVID-19 crisis level to ‘caution’ in June. Regarding eligibility, except for chronic disease patients such as those with hypertension, only patients who had an in-person consultation for the same disease code within 30 days were eligible. Exceptional first-time consultations were allowed only for residents of islands and remote areas, and persons with disabilities.

By regulating non-face-to-face consultations mainly to returning patients, the number of such consultations dropped by more than 90%, and some non-face-to-face consultation platform companies either closed down or sought new business opportunities. Concerns were also raised that eligible patients were actually unable to receive consultations.

The Ministry of Health and Welfare now states that patients who have had an in-person consultation at a hospital or clinic within the past six months will be able to receive non-face-to-face consultations regardless of the illness. This means that there will no longer be a distinction between first-time and returning consultations for non-face-to-face care. Until now, it was difficult for doctors providing non-face-to-face consultations to determine before the consultation whether the patient’s symptoms were related to the same illness. Patients, except those with chronic diseases, had to apply for non-face-to-face consultations within 30 days after visiting a medical institution, which was widely criticized as an unreasonably short period.

A Ministry of Health and Welfare official said, “Parents, for whom ‘pediatric open runs’ have become routine, requested the removal or extension of the time limit.” Similar improved non-face-to-face consultation measures are also being implemented overseas in countries such as Japan, France, and Italy.

During holidays, public holidays, and nighttime, anyone can receive exceptional non-face-to-face consultations. This means it is possible even at medical institutions where the patient has never received a consultation before. Until now, the pilot project allowed only children under 18 to receive consultations via non-face-to-face methods. The guidelines will be improved to remove the age limit and allow prescriptions as well.

Also, while medically vulnerable areas eligible for exceptional non-face-to-face consultations previously included only islands and remote areas, emergency medical vulnerable areas will now be included. Emergency medical vulnerable areas are defined as regions where it is impossible to reach a regional emergency medical center within 30 minutes or a regional emergency medical center within one hour. There are 98 such cities, counties, and districts nationwide.

Emergency contraceptives will be prohibited from prescription due to concerns about misuse and overuse. Medications for hair loss, acne, and diet are generally allowed to be prescribed. Regarding this, a Ministry of Health and Welfare official said, “We will continuously review (the prohibition status) of these medications through case management and other measures.” The principle of picking up prescribed medications at pharmacies will remain unchanged. Currently, home delivery of medications is only allowed for patients in islands and remote areas, those with mobility difficulties, and confirmed infectious disease patients.

The improved non-face-to-face consultation system will be applied starting from the 15th. Park Min-su, the 2nd Vice Minister of Health and Welfare, stated, “We will continue to monitor the pilot project to ensure that non-face-to-face consultations contribute to improving the public’s access to medical care and that non-face-to-face consultations based on medical professionals’ judgment become well established.”