The healthcare industry leverages emerging technologies to improve patient care but opens itself to potential liability and malpractice claims.
FREMONT, CA: Studies estimate that a USD 300 billion global digital health market will grow by 25 percent. It is becoming increasingly common for medical professionals to use digital technologies to deliver care, such as telehealth platforms, artificial intelligence (AI)-driven clinical decision-making tools, digital surgical tools, and mHealth technologies.
In digital health technologies, determining what constitutes customary medical practice becomes challenging. A medical error must violate customary medical practice to be considered malpractice.
Technological advancements can improve the efficiency and modernization of care delivery. Practitioners and patients need to consider malpractice and liability risks to optimize healthcare.
Telehealth: It is challenging to mitigate telehealth-related malpractice risks as there are no relevant preceding cases. Research identifies that there has never been a court case involving telehealth-related malpractice in the US, and this shows that liability claims are mostly settled outside of court.
Focusing on training and developing clinical skills over telehealth is essential to improve patient safety and reduce malpractice risks.
