The Legal Definition of Telemedicine
The Law on Medical Activity defines telemedicine as the distant provision of medical services, carried out by a professional of the medical field through information and communication technologies, aimed at exchanging information for the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of diseases, as well as for the continuing education of medical personnel, medical research and the evaluation of its results. This definition shapes the entire legal regime: who may be a subject of telemedicine, through which technologies, and for which purposes.
The definition embeds two directions — diagnosis-treatment and education-research. The first is patient-oriented and is the main focus of this page; the second serves the continuing development of medical personnel and scientific activity. In both cases the legal frame is uniform: the author of, and the person responsible for, the service is the professional, while the technology is only a means.
It matters that the law treats telemedicine within the framework of medical activity — it is not a separate profession but a form of medical service. All requirements applicable to medical activity therefore extend to telemedicine services: medical standards, ethical norms and qualification requirements.