Telemedicine promises to provide improved access to greater range of medical services. Yet, the number ofself-sustaining international telemedicine projects remains small. Its cost effectiveness and commercialsustainability is still to be proved. The level of regulatory uncertainty in the implementation of internationaltelemedicine programs is a significant barrier to entry for many potential participants. In this paper we providea checklist of the policy and regulatory issues relevant to the establishment of an international telemedicinesystem. The paper includes:· A discussion of risk management strategies to deal with the wide range of issues including the legaland regulatory issues likely to be encountered by health professionals and organisations involved inproviding international telemedicine services· A summary of legislative and regulatory responses in the United States, Europe and the Asian regionto the growth of telemedicine· An analysis of how existing regulatory regimes in the Asian region impact on the practice ofinternational telemedicine.The paper concludes that greater international effort to establish professional and technical standards for theprovision of telemedicine services will remove barriers to the implementation of international telemedicineprojects while protecting the interests of patients and local health professionals.
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