Table 1.
General regulations and deregulations related to telemedicine (summary version)
| Deregulation of rules related to COVID-19? | Deregulation temporary or not? | Limitations on areas where telemedicine can be provided? | Qualifications required for doctors who practice telemedicine? | Is there a defined method of patient identification, such as presenting a personal number or insurance card? | Restrictions on the applications/software that can be used for telemedicine? | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Until December 2019 | As of May 2020 | Until December 2019 | As of May 2020 | Until December 2019 | As of May 2020 | Until December 2019 | As of May 2020 | |||
| Australia | Yes | Undecided | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | |||
| Brazil | Yes | Temporary | N/Aa | No | No | No | No | |||
| Canada (Ontario) | Yes | Undecided | No | No | No | Yes | No | |||
| China | Yes | Undecided | No | Yes | No | No | ||||
| Denmark | Yes | Temporary | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes (restrictions slightly eased) | |||
| Egypt | None | Not specified | No | Yes | No | No | ||||
| Germany | Yes | Temporary | No | No | No | Yes | ||||
| India | Yes | Undecided | No | Yes | No | No | ||||
| Italy | Yes | Temporary | No | No | Yes (first visit only) | Yes | ||||
| Japan | Yes | Temporary | Yes | No | No (planned to start April 2020) | No (temporarily) | Yes | Yes (restrictions slightly eased) | No | |
| South Africa | Yes | Temporary | No | Yes | No | No | ||||
| South Korea | Yes | Temporary | N/Ab | No | N/Ab | No | N/Ab | Yes | N/Ab | No |
| Spain (Madrid) | None | Not specified | No | No | No | No | ||||
| Taiwan | Yes | Temporary | Yes | Yes (restrictions slightly eased) | Yes | Yes (restrictions slightly eased) | Yes | Yes (restrictions slightly eased) | No | |
| Turkey | None | Not specified | No | No | No | Yes | No | |||
| UK (England) | None | Not specified | No | No | Yes | No | ||||
| USA (New York) | Yes | Undecided | No | Yes | No | Yes | No (registered patients exempt) | Yes | Yes (restrictions slightly eased) | |
N/A, not applicable.
a
Telemedicine available only under certain conditions such as a second opinion.
b
Telemedicine not established for general patient care.