Australia makes temporary changes to telehealth amid Omicron outbreak
Some subsidised specialist phone and video consultation items are being offered until 30 June.
By Adam Ang
January 18, 2022 01:26 AM
The Australian government is briefly subsidising some telehealth services as it deals with a new COVID-19 outbreak.
These include specialist inpatient video and phone consultation items under the Medicare Benefits Schedule, complex specialist telephone consultations and level C or longer telephone consultations for general practitioners.
Offered until 30 June, these telehealth items have been made available nationwide, unlike when these were targeted only to hotspot areas previously.
WHY IT MATTERS
These changes to telehealth are being done to support the continuity of patient care amid the current COVID-19 restrictions and to help relieve the pressure on the overwhelmed hospital system.
"Telehealth has been a vital support during the pandemic providing greater flexibility in healthcare delivery at the most critical time and it continues to be a fundamental part of the pandemic response," Minister Hunt noted in a media release over the weekend.
It is seen that the short-term telehealth services will benefit vulnerable patients, including the elderly, people living in rural and remote areas, immunocompromised, under psychiatrist care, those living with cancer, and pregnant persons.
COVID-19 infections in Australia have been reaching record levels since the start of the new year. There have been already over a million cases due to a new surge caused by the Omicron variant – a variant first reported from South Africa in November.
THE LARGER CONTEXT
While Australia pledged to make telehealth permanent, earlier this month the federal government said it has to exclude some subsidised telehealth items, which healthcare leaders warned could heavily impact patients.
Aside from temporary telehealth items, the government introduced other measures to support the country's health system amid the ongoing Omicron outbreak.
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Around the same we also got this:
Calls for long-term funding in light of $24 million telehealth announcement
Tuesday January 18, 202
News of the federal government’s boost to telehealth services has been ‘cautiously welcomed’ by the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP), who met with ministers to discuss the support needed to provide essential care during the pandemic.
The money will fund video and telephone specialist inpatient telehealth medical benefits scheme (MBS) items, initial and complex specialist telephone consultation items, and longer telephone consultations for GPs (level C).
RACGP president Dr Karen Price said the multimillion-dollar funding, which temporarily restores nationwide telehealth services to peak COVID-19 settings, was a ‘step in the right direction’. But, she noted, the need for these services would also continue beyond the government’s 30 June 2022 cut-off date.
“A six-month restoration of these rebates is welcome; however, we must not stop there — this must be a permanent fixture of telehealth for years to come and the RACGP will continue fighting to make that happen,” Price said.
“Otherwise, we risk undoing a lot of hard work that has improved care for patients, including those in rural and remote areas, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patients, and patients with chronic disease.”
……
Dr Price said that the Healthdirect triage service will link community care pathways developed in different states and territories to ensure doctors can access information to help manage COVID-19 positive patients from home.
“With COVID-19 cases escalating in many communities across Australia, particularly New South Wales and my home state of Victoria, telehealth is a great solution for people at greater risk of severe illness if they contract the virus including older people, those with serious underlying health conditions and the immunocompromised,” Price said.
“For many health conditions, telehealth provides the perfect avenue. So don’t hesitate to ring your GP and book an appointment, the worst thing you can do is avoid or put off care you need now.”
Hunt and Glillespe acknowledged the important role telehealth played during the pandemic, offering flexibility ‘at the most critical time’.
Price said that between video and telephone telehealth services, telephone consultations were overwhelmingly preferred by patients — including older people or those with unreliable internet access. She said the RACGP was urging the government to reinstate Medicare rebates for longer phone consultations as part of the permanent telehealth model.
“Video and telephone consultations have changed the way we deliver healthcare and I believe many patients will continue to utilise telehealth for years to come post-pandemic as a complement to face-to-face care,” Dr Price said.
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In the context of the scale of the estimated total health spend (2021-2022) of $98.3 billion the cost is literally ‘chicken feed’!
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Surely it is not beyond the wit of the bureaucrats, after having various modalities of telehealth operate for 2+ years in various ways, to work out a model that is reasonably easy to administer, pretty secure, accessible, simple to understand and can be operated for the forward estimates period of 4 years?
It is clear that the pandemic is not going away any time soon, that telehealth is here to stay and that, as reported a week or so ago on the blog, telehealth is safe and works for many patients.
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https://aushealthit.blogspot.com/2022/01/it-is-good-to-see-there-is-some.html
It would be good to see what the explanation for all the faffing about actually was!
David
Does seem a strange situation from the outside. A relatively small annual budget allocation, probably offset in part through a reduced number of traditional engagements or increases the chances people see and talk to a GP. From a taxpayer, perspective seems an excellent move to fund, especially against some other questionable budget line items. From a patient/customer perspective, better access to safely secure and seamless Healthcare might occasionally benefit us all.
ReplyDeleteThere must be a reason, and I, too, would be very interested in better understanding this.
Not that unusual. Enthusiasm would have hit someone inbox whose catch phrase is - sorry computer says no. It is difficult getting decisions these days
ReplyDeleteLooking to tap into your collective memories:
ReplyDeleteAccording to ADHA, results are often uploaded and available to view on MHR before people receive a text from the pathology lab.
This in itself is quite a recent functionality; the update occurred on January 13 of this year. Originally, consumers had to wait one week before they could access pathology results on MHR.
Was there not very valid reasons for this period before results manically appear in a non-clinical tool? I don’t recall ever seeing it relaxed with agreement
@G.Carter, the ADHA is (surprise) liberal with the facts. It is only Covid related pathology results that get made available immediately.
ReplyDeleteCareful of these folks. Many are the same that brought you Robodebt and other service Australia value adds