MSIT Gathers Startup Input to Stabilize the Telemedicine制度

Kickoff Meeting Held for Regulatory Improvement Roundtable

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups announced that on the 24th it held the kickoff meeting of the "Regulatory Improvement Roundtable for the Stabilization of Telemedicine制度."

The New Industry Regulatory Improvement Roundtable is a consultative body in which various stakeholders, including academia, research institutes, experts, and industry, participate to discuss the rationalization of regulations in new industry sectors, and it is being operated for the first time this year. The Ministry plans to conduct discussions in the first half of the year on two topics in parallel: telemedicine and mobility/autonomous driving.

This meeting focused on the first topic, telemedicine, and was organized to gather opinions from the startup sector on the delegated matters of subordinate statutes (such as standards and requirements) under the Medical Service Act, which was amended in December last year with respect to the legalization of telemedicine, and to discuss a reasonable level of regulation.

The meeting was attended by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups and the Korea Institute of Startup & Entrepreneurship Development, as well as startup-related associations and organizations such as the Korea Legislation Research Institute, the Korea Startup Forum, and the Korea Venture Business Association, along with telemedicine startups.

During the meeting, discussions were held on the scope of follow-up consultations to be recognized, the definition of the same area in the case of telemedicine, the scope of pharmaceutical prescriptions, quarterly reporting of statistics by telemedicine intermediary platforms, and the filing and certification requirements for telemedicine intermediary platforms, which have been delegated from the Medical Service Act to subordinate statutes and are scheduled to be amended by December this year.

Cho Kyungwon, Director General for Startup Policy at the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, said, "Telemedicine services are a field that can both improve the public's access to medical care and create a new digital healthcare industry," adding, "Through this roundtable, we will listen sufficiently to voices from the field regarding the detailed standards that must be set in subordinate statutes, and, through consultations with the relevant ministries, strive to ensure that this leads to a reasonable institutional design."