Telehealth use and legal considerations in drug health services for routine care during emergency situations (Preprint)

Abstract

Presentations of patients with substance use disorder (SUD) to the Emergency Department (ED) increased substantially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Routine care of patients at drug health services became critical during the pandemic and telehealth played an important role in delivering appropriate interventions

This scoping review aimed to provide legal, ethical, and clinical considerations to minimise legal risks when use of telehealth in these settings.

A search of perspectives on Australian technology law and legal frameworks published in the scientific literature, and government regulations was performed over a period of 3 years between June 2019 and June 2022. Forty-two published studies met the inclusion criteria from 614 legal and medical search results. Current regulations related to technology use in drug health services, relevant cases and international regulatory models are discussed.

Telehealth use rapidly increased during the COVID-19 pandemic but also raised issues in consenting and autonomy, confidentiality, privacy, data security, and professional indemnity. Clinicians are required to consider these elements when providing health care at drug health services.

Clinicians are required to consider the legal frameworks when providing telehealth consultations at drug health services.