The project began in the Chilean Senate, and has gone through reviews in the Chamber of Deputies in the Health and Treasury commissions.
From the second half of 2021, the Chilean Senate has promoted a motion that regulates the extension of the telemedicine modality in medical care. And, that it also modify the duties and rights of patients to promote access to these services.
On January 19, 2022, the Health Commission of the Chilean Chamber of Deputies voted in favor of the motion that authorizes health service providers to carry out telemedicine care. In addition, the second step of this motion seeks to consider telemedicine as part of "Digital Health".
The objective of the initiative is to modify Law No. 20,584, which regulates the rights and duties of the population in relation to actions related to health care. The amendments seek to promote the exchange of information for purposes of diagnosis, therapeutics, rehabilitation, prevention of diseases and injuries, research, evaluation and more.
After its vote in the Health Commission, the initiative passed to the Finance Commission. Finally, on March 1, the Treasury Commission analyzed the financial aspects of this new rule and proposed the modification of two articles.
In this way, one of the articles would be permanent and another transitory, the first is related to the regulation of service providers and the second to fiscal spending.
Likewise, service providers may provide care through telemedicine under the same terms as face-to-face care. In this sense, health professionals will be able to use digital technologies for the exchange of information. In this way, telemedicine can be carried out both in outpatient care and in hospital care.
This project has been approved in the Senate of Chile, as part of the first constitutional process, which is carried out in the chamber of origin of the initiative; and in two commissions of the Chamber of Deputies of Chile, that is, the second constitutional process corresponding to the reviewing chamber.
Finally, for the third constitutional procedure, the initiative will return with the corresponding revisions to the Senate for its final approval and send the result to the President of the Republic for its promulgation.
CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES CHILE
