Domestic 'Non-face-to-face Medical Service Companies' Aim at Overseas Markets Beyond Services for Overseas Koreans

Domestic digital healthcare companies providing non-face-to-face medical consultation services are expanding overseas. In addition to existing services targeting overseas Koreans and international travelers, some companies have begun directly targeting the overseas non-face-to-face medical consultation market.

LifeSemantics operates the non-face-to-face medical consultation platform 'DoctorCall,' which offers remote medical services to overseas Koreans. Overseas Koreans can receive remote consultations from medical staff at domestic medical institutions partnered with LifeSemantics through the DoctorCall app. This service was launched in June 2021 and bypassed legal restrictions prohibiting remote consultations through the government's regulatory sandbox program.

Besides LifeSemantics, a total of 31 institutions have applied to the government for regulatory sandbox approval to provide remote medical consultations for overseas Koreans. These include 26 digital healthcare companies, including LifeSemantics, Lulumedic, and Inseong Information, as well as 5 hospitals such as Ewha Womans University Seoul Hospital, Kangbuk Samsung Hospital, and Myongji Medical Foundation.

In October, LifeSemantics signed a business agreement with travel agency Norangpungseon to provide non-face-to-face medical consultation services for international travelers. The service is scheduled to launch as early as January next year, allowing not only nationals residing abroad but also short-term overseas travelers to receive remote consultations from domestic medical staff via DoctorCall.

Currently, non-face-to-face medical consultations for overseas Koreans are 'indirectly permitted' through the regulatory sandbox and have not yet been fully legalized. The government announced on the 27th of last month, as part of its regulatory innovation plan for new industries, that it will amend the Medical Service Act to allow remote consultations for overseas Koreans, including international students and travelers.

There are also cases of exporting non-face-to-face medical consultation platforms to overseas markets. In October, LifeSemantics signed a Proof of Concept (PoC) agreement with a top-tier hospital in Thailand and began supplying the non-face-to-face medical consultation platform 'DoctorCall Thai.' DoctorCall Thai is an upgraded version of the DoctorCall platform tailored to the convenience of local medical staff and patients, integrated with 'LINE,' a mobile messenger with a 90% local market share. Through LINE, users can make appointment reservations, receive remote consultations, make payments, access customer service, and even have medications delivered without downloading a separate application.

The reason non-face-to-face medical consultation service providers are focusing on overseas Koreans and international market expansion is due to the relatively poor domestic environment for remote medical consultations.

Although the Ministry of Health and Welfare implemented supplementary measures for the non-face-to-face medical consultation pilot project starting on the 15th of this month, expanding the scope of first-time patients and relaxing follow-up criteria, there is still no consensus within the medical community or society in Korea regarding the scope and subjects of remote medical consultations.

In contrast, foreign countries have relatively lax regulations on non-face-to-face medical consultations. Thailand, where LifeSemantics has expanded, is fostering the remote medical consultation industry at the government level. With almost no related regulations, medical institutions in Thailand can directly deliver medications to patients who receive remote consultations.