Social Security Organization Claims Its New Decisions on Digital Health Platforms Are Part of Its Duties, While the E-Commerce Association Believes These Actions Are Illegal and a Clear Example of Hindering Business Operations.
The E-Commerce Association has issued a statement indicating legal action to seek compensation for the damages inflicted on digital health businesses.
In recent days, the Social Security Organization has requested that laboratories cease collaborating with digital health platforms and has threatened them with fines. Additionally, the organization has sent text messages to doctors and medical laboratories stating that “electronic prescriptions offered by platforms, including consultations, paraclinical services, and medications, will not be covered.”
What Does the Social Security Organization Say?
The Director General of Indirect Treatment at the Social Security Organization, regarding the operation of virtual platforms in the health sector, stated: The Social Security Organization is a pioneer in providing electronic services and supports any reasonable and legal action aimed at facilitating and accelerating the provision of health services to the organization’s insured individuals. However, we explicitly state that the activities of virtual platforms in providing health services must be within specific legal frameworks, and no regulations in this regard have yet been issued to the organization by the Ministry of Health and the Supreme Insurance Council.
Therefore, as a basic insurance organization, we are responsible for overseeing and safeguarding the interests of the insured and must legally supervise the quality of health services provided to them. Based on fundamental legal principles, a contracting party cannot assign all or part of the contract to a third party.
We have not created any obstacles for virtual platforms to operate in providing health services, but we emphasize that their activities in the health sector must be based on specific regulations and standards to address issues such as patient data confidentiality, the standards of service provision by platforms, supervision of health standards compliance, and patient identity verification.
Response of the E-Commerce Association to the Claims of the Social Security Organization
Following the release of a letter from the Tehran E-Commerce Association regarding the illegal behavior of telephonically summoning laboratories affiliated with digital health platforms by the Social Security Insurance and pressuring them to cease collaboration, the Social Security Organization, on August 19, 2024, in an aggressive and illegal move, announced via a text message to doctors and medical laboratories that “from now on, electronic prescriptions offered by platforms, including consultations, paraclinical services, and medications, will not be covered.”
The Director General of Indirect Treatment at the Social Security Organization provided explanations on this matter, claiming that due to the lack of laws and regulations, as well as certain concerns, the Social Security Organization has fulfilled its mission!
The E-Commerce Association poses the question of what logic the Social Security Organization uses to justify steps toward banning digital health businesses under the pretext of a lack of laws and regulations. The association reminds the organization of the following points:
The July 26, 2022, regulation by the Cabinet regarding the support of knowledge-based businesses in the digital health sector indicates the legality and governmental support for this sector. Article 22 explicitly assigns the Ministries of Communications, Economy, and Health to define the framework for these businesses’ activities and to have supportive programs. Article 69 of the Seventh Development Plan recognizes digital health as a driver of health development, thus acknowledging the framework.
None of the diagnostic and treatment centers have delegated their responsibilities to third parties; the platforms only play a facilitative role, and none of the laboratory responsibilities and services have been transferred to the platforms. When service providers are pressured not to collaborate with platforms, it essentially eliminates one side of the digital health triangle—comprising the platform, the service provider, and the service recipient—due to extralegal reasons, which is a clear example of business obstruction.
The Central Laboratory Reference Center, through a directive issued in October 2018, authorized at-home sample collection by laboratories under the supervision of a technical officer. How then does Social Security claim that no law exists in this regard? Regarding the Social Security claim of a lack of standards for at-home sample collection, it should be noted that this falls under the jurisdiction of the Central Laboratory Reference Center and not within the authority of Social Security.
The management and protection of data confidentiality, according to the Law of Resilience, is the responsibility of the Ministry of Health, and Social Security is not the oversight body for data confidentiality. Moreover, Article 69, Part A, Clause 1 of the Seventh Development Plan explicitly states that even if diagnostic and treatment centers request information from the National Health Database, with the citizen’s consent, this information can be provided to authorized health service providers. Therefore, patient consent is the primary condition, and this matter is transparently addressed on the platforms.
The Tehran E-Commerce Association demands a retraction of this illegal action and reserves the right to take legal action to seek compensation for the damages inflicted on digital health businesses to prevent further disruptions in the digital health sector and to safeguard user health.
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