Telemedicine for Diabetic Foot

Abstract

　The remuneration system for online medical consultations in Japan has undergone significant changes over the past few years. While the global pandemic of the novel COVID-19 unintentionally acted as a driving force, it is estimated that online consultations have become a significant trend in daily medical practice even in the post-COVID-19 era when COVID-19 has been classified as a category 5 infectious disease. Just as our lifestyle shifted dramatically with the transition from pagers to mobile phones and further to smartphones, the wave of digitization, which had been somewhat lagging in the medical industry compared to other sectors, is now spreading in the medical field, leading to significant transformations in the way medical services are provided.　However, it is evident from survey results that a large number of medical practitioners still do not regularly utilize online medical consultations. This seems to be due to several reasons, including concerns over information management security risks, ambiguous positioning within the framework of medical and physician laws, and the inability to claim medical reimbursement in many cases.　In this paper, we aim to organize and reconfirm these issues and examine the desirable integration of online medical consultations and remote collaboration in regional healthcare in Japan.