Telehealth Continues to Pose Liability, Regulatory Concerns
October 1, 2025 3 minutes read
By Gregory Freeman
The use of telehealth boomed during the pandemic and continues to be a popular option for both patients and providers, but legal risks continue. There are so many issues to consider that the topic was major focus of ATA Nexus 2025, the American Telemedicine Association’s annual meeting, notes Paul D. Squire, JD, shareholder with the Polsinelli law firm in New York City.
A recap of the key legal considerations can be found online at http://bit.ly/3JJs4r7.
“There has been a whole evolution in the delivery of healthcare via telemedicine, turbocharged via COVID, where a number of the restrictions were suspended for periods of time. Since then, there has been an evolution and specialization in the types of care delivery via telemedicine. So, you have the rise of niche telemedicine providers focusing on different conditions, be it women’s health, GI (gastrointestinal) issues, lower intestinal issues, multiple skeletal issues, and the most prevalent being mental healthcare delivery,” he says. “Mental health lends itself to its delivery via remote care. There are huge issues on access to populations, especially young adults. Niche care always puts the impetus on payers to look at what is a cost effective care delivery method, and they are very attracted to telehealth.”
With the expansion of the delivery of care, providers have had to focus on how care is delivered because there is a potential risk for licensed providers when delivering care remotely, Squire says.
“Ultimately, that telemedicine provider is going to be held to the same standard of care as others, the same as if that care was delivered in person, but there are impediments to providing that same level of care so that’s a risk,” he says. “There is potential for malpractice lawsuits against the provider when providing care remotely as well as medical board investigations if there’s an egregious oversight and negligence in how care is delivered. There have to be guidelines and prophylactic measures to ensure that the standard of care is met.”
Companies providing glucagon-like peptide-1 weight-loss drugs through telemedicine are under scrutiny now from the Food and Drug Administration, Squire notes, and federal regulators may soon turn their attention to other providers.
Risk managers should ensure that they have effective controls and quality assurance processes in place to ensure that quality of care and standard of care are being met, Squire says.
“This is a modality of practice that is much more widely accepted as a part of the medical community than in years prior. The battles have been fought so that it is a part of the delivery of healthcare. It is respected, an integral part of it, and every provider hospital system in the country views telemedicine as an extension of their care,” Squire says. “But when risk managers look at this, they have to ensure that protocols are put into place so they can ascertain that their entity is taking the delivery of care seriously and in a compliant way.”
Greg Freeman has worked with Clinican.com and its predecessor companies since 1989, moving from assistant staff writer to executive editor before becoming a freelance writer. He has been the editor of Healthcare Risk Management since 1992 and provides research and content for other Clinician.com products. In addition to his work with Clinician.com, Greg provides other freelance writing services and is the author of seven narrative nonfiction books on wartime experiences and other historical events.
Source
- Paul D. Squire, JD, Shareholder, Polsinelli, New York City. Telephone: (646) 289-6513. Email: [email protected].
The use of telehealth boomed during the pandemic and continues to be a popular option for both patients and providers, but legal risks continue.
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