ArticleJournal of medical Internet research2024
Telehealth Use and Legal Considerations in Drug Health Services During Pandemics: Systematic Scoping Review.
Article in Journal of medical Internet research, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed.
- Tele-Oncology in the Post-Pandemic Era: Clinical Integration, Access Disparities and Medico-Legal Accountability.Current oncology reports · 2026Review
- Policy Considerations for National Virtual Hospitals: Global Evidence and the Seha Virtual Hospital Model.Journal of medical Internet research · 2026Article
- Telemedicine and Digital Tools in Dentistry: Enhancing Diagnosis and Remote Patient Care.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2025Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic impacted patients with substance use disorder (SUD) more than the general population and resulted in substantially increased emergency department admissions. Routine care of patients attending drug health services during the pandemic transitioned, with telehealth being important in delivering appropriate care. However, telehealth introduces unique risks such as privacy, confidentiality, and data safety. Providing health care through telehealth may fail if the legal impacts are not fully identified and acted on by health professionals. It also poses unintended risks for patients and can result in ineffectiveness, damages, medical negligence, and detracts from the best intentions of governments and health professionals. Understanding the legal framework ensures that medical professionals operate health care through telehealth within the law. Providing health care successfully through telehealth depends on the balance between innovation and legal compliance. By considering these aspects, clinicians and practitioners can provide effective and safe telehealth services during pandemics or any other natural disaster.
objectiveWe aimed to explore the legal impact of autonomy consent, confidentiality, privacy, data security, professional indemnity, and liability when delivering telehealth to patients with SUD. The scoping review also aimed to provide legal, ethical, and clinical considerations to minimize legal risks with using telehealth in drug health service outpatient settings.
methodsWe performed a scoping review to provide an overview of existing research, statutes, and case laws for the incorporation of clinical, ethical, and legal considerations into telehealth use. Six databases for medical and 6 databases for legal publications were searched, as well as Australian national and selected international regulatory standards. Medical articles published up to June 2022 were included in this review. Our search yielded 1436 publications, 614 abstracts were reviewed, and 80 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 standards are discussed.
resultsIn total, 43 legal documents including 15 statutes, 4 case laws, and 37 medical publications were reviewed. The themes arising from the literature were consent and autonomy (20/80, 25%), confidentiality (8/80, 10%), privacy (8/80, 10%), data security (7/80, 9%), and professional indemnity issues (3/80, 4%) in telehealth use. Further, 24 studies identified legal issues associated with telehealth use in patients with SUD.
conclusionsOur review identified potential legal issues associated with telehealth use in patients with SUD. Several legal and medical research articles provide frameworks, codes of conduct, or suggestions for clinicians to consider, but there was little discussion or evidence of how legal considerations are being applied when providing telehealth consultations at drug health services. Clinicians should be aware of the medicolegal implications when providing health care via telehealth at drug health services.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.