Telemedicine Uptake During and After Pandemic-Era Deregulation in Japan

JAMA Netw Open. 2026 Jan 2;9(1):e2553150. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.53150.

Kazuki Ohashi¹, Kazuhiro Abe², Yoko Shizawa¹, Zhao Jieyu^{1

3}, Machiko Ukai^{4

5

6}, Shigekazu Komoto², Katsuhiko Ogasawara^{1

7}

¹ Faculty of Health Sciences, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan.
² Department of Health Care Policy, Faculty of Medicine, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan.
³ Institute for Integrated Innovations, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan.
⁴ Graduate School of Health Sciences, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan.
⁵ Department of Nutrition, Teine Keijinkai Hospital, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan.
⁶ Teine Family Medical Clinic, Sapporo Hokkaido, Japan.
⁷ Faculty of Engineering, Muroran Institute of Technology, Muroran, Hokkaido, Japan.

No abstract available

Plain language summary

This cross-sectional study assesses the uptake of telemedicine during and after the COVID-19 pandemic–era deregulation period in Japan.