Korea legalizes telemedicine for foreign patients to boost medical tourism

A doctor speaks with a patient via a video call. gettyimagesbank

Korea is expanding medical frontiers beyond its physical borders, legalizing telemedicine for international patients in a bid to solidify its position as a premier global health care hub.

The Ministry of Health and Welfare announced Tuesday the promulgation of a revised law that establishes a formal legal framework for remote medical care tailored specifically to foreign nationals. Set to take effect next year after a 12-month grace period, the legislation marks a major shift by regulatory planners seeking to maintain momentum in an industry that drew a record 2.01 million international patients last year.

Under the newly amended Act on Support for Overseas Medical Expansion and Attraction of Foreign Patients, licensed doctors, dentists and traditional medicine practitioners at designated medical institutions can provide digital consultations, remote monitoring, clinical diagnoses and prescriptions to overseas patients using advanced information and communications technology. Unlike the stricter domestic telemedicine rules established under the Medical Service Act which limit remote care to returning domestic patients at local neighborhood clinics, the new international framework permits remote first-time appointments and extends to larger general hospitals.

The policy is designed to solve a persistent bottleneck in medical tourism around the short physical stays of most international visitors. Through the institutionalization of remote care, Korean hospitals can offer pre-treatment counseling before a patient boards a flight to Seoul and provide critical follow-up care after they return home. To streamline the initiative, the government plans to build a dedicated international telemedicine support platform that integrates secure prescription systems and remote diagnostic features.

The regulatory overhaul also expands reporting mandates for domestic medical providers expanding overseas, broadening the scope from individual hospital operators to include non-profit organizations and corporate management service companies.

"This is a new starting point to radically improve health care accessibility and bolster the global credibility of Korea's advanced medical system," Minister of Health and Welfare Jeong Eun-kyeong said. "By ensuring rigorous quality control and patient safety, we intend to elevate the trust and long-term sustainability of our medical infrastructure on the global stage."

This article was published with the assistance of generative AI and edited by The Korea Times.