Telemedicine law does not exist in Georgia as a separate statute — it is codified in the Law on Medical Practice: the term is defined in Article 5, and the rules of the service by Articles 90, 91 and 92. To these four norms is added the second article, which determines the scope of regulation of the Law. Foreign telemedicine and data-protection models do not operate directly in the Georgian system — the page is carried by the Georgian law.
What telemedicine is in the eyes of the law
Sub-paragraph „z“ of Article 5 defines telemedicine as the distant provision of medical services, carried out by a professional of the medical field by means of information and communication technologies, whose aim is the exchange of information for the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of diseases, as well as for the continuous education of medical personnel, medical research and the assessment of its results. This definition shows the boundary: telemedicine is not a technological novelty outside the law — it is a form of medical practice, and every general medical requirement extends to it.
Who conducts the consultation and who answers
Article 90 works through three conditions. First: the right to receive a medical consultation by means of telemedicine belongs only to a subject of independent medical practice — which means that the organiser of a remote consultation must be a certified physician, not a technical platform. Second: on the basis of a consultation received by means of telemedicine, only a subject of independent medical practice gives recommendations to the patient. Third: responsibility for the results of the service rendered in this form lies with the subject who directly issues the recommendation — liability does not dissipate on the other side of the screen. Who this subject is, the definitions of the law assemble precisely: independent medical practice is the professional activity of a person holding higher medical education and a state certificate confirming the right of independent medical practice, who answers for its results in the manner established by Georgian legislation; the subject is a person who carries out that activity in the manner established by the legislation. Without the certificate, remote reception is inaccessible — a barrier flowing directly from Article 5.
The two circles of confidentiality
Article 91 builds the first circle: in the use of telemedicine means, the protection of the confidentiality of information about the patient is incumbent on the subject of independent medical practice, and, at the patient's demand, data about the patient's identity, state of health and private life may be transmitted anonymously by means of telemedicine. Article 92 builds the second circle: technical personnel participating in the transmission of information are prohibited from disclosing information about the consultation received, and are obliged to protect the confidentiality of information about the patient's state of health. Thus the entire chain is closed: both the physician and the technical personnel keep silence.