Bupa launches free telehealth consults

More than two million people now have access to free telehealth consults through a new Bupa initiative, but it has led to significant concern from the RACGP that it will disconnect patients from their regular GP.
 
The private health insurer announced this month it will begin offering its members three telehealth bookings per person, per year through its digital health platform, Blua.
 
Bupa says it added the service ‘as part of a cost-of-living health measure’, but it has drawn the ire of one RACGP representative, who remains sceptical of its intentions.
 
The launch comes after a 10-month trial of the service found people were drawn to it because it meant they do not need to travel, convenience, they do not want to wait in a clinic, or they ‘just need something small’ such as a repeat medication or results.
 
Of the consultations, 72% were resolved on the telehealth call and 15% were referred to a GP.
 
The service boasts ‘24/7 access to doctors’, but Bupa Clinical Director and Melbourne GP Dr Simon Benson confirmed they are not all GPs.
 
‘All of these doctors have to be qualified for a minimum of three years and registered in Australia for a minimum of three years, and they must not have any conditions or restrictions on their license whatsoever,’ he told newsGP.
 
‘About half of them are either from the RACGP or ACRRM, so approximately 50% are vocationally registered GPs, the other 50% are not.
 
‘Some of them are general practice registrars, so they’re working in primary care, some of them are non-vocationally registered GPs who’ve been registered for a very long time but obviously historically, came from overseas and so didn’t enter into the traditional general practice training pathway.’
 
Dr Benson also confirmed that member fees will not be increased to cover the addition.
 
Blua’s expansion comes at a time when, by law, private health insurance cannot offer cover for out-of-hospital medical services, including GP visits, because they can be covered by Medicare.
 
And while Medicare benefits are available for video and phone telehealth services provided by GPs, telehealth items can only be used for patients they have an existing relationship with, or who have visited the practice for a face-to-face service in the last year.
 
This gives Bupa, and other private health insurers, access to the telehealth market.
 
Dr Emil Djakic, Deputy Chair of RACGP Expert Committee – Funding and Health System Reform, told newsGP he fears that private health insurers entering the GP space will lead to a reduced or eroded relationship with a GP.
 
‘Nothing’s free unless it’s absolutely given without exchange and these are measures for their club, for people with private health insurance,’ he said.
 
‘It’s been done because it looks like a very good investment for them to be seen to be delivering a service, and we can’t get angry at them because they’re pursuing a niche and using technology that allows them to have that sort of process.
 
‘But really, the patient in the long term will be poorer for it, and the insurers in the long term will end up paying more out of pocket for it because of the lack of continuity and the lack of an ongoing relationship.’
 
Under Bupa’s telehealth model, patients can choose between seeing the next available doctor or booking an appointment in advance and then choosing which doctor suits them best.
 
‘What we’ve decided to do, recognising the continuity is really important, is ensure that with the appropriate consent, a consultation summary is uploaded to My Health Record for every patient,’ Dr Benson said.
 
‘That information is available to not just their own GP, but also to hospital doctors, to hospitals.
 
‘That is a very important component of the service offering to try to address some of the challenges around delivering continuity of care in an already fragmented system.’
 
In Australia, the number of people signing up for private health insurance cover continues to rise with 54.5% of the population currently having some form of general treatment cover.
 
But that comes at a time when many patients are struggling to afford healthcare.
 
Just this week, the latest RACGP Health of the Nation report reveals patients’ out-of-pocket costs increased to $36.86 on average for a 20-minute consult in 2024, up from $34.91 the year before.
 
The report found there has also been an increase in people delaying or not accessing care due to cost doubling from 3.5% to 7% in just one year.
 
Dr Djakic is worried that private health insurers’ entrance into the telehealth space will hurt those who cannot afford private cover the most.
 
‘Those people who cannot afford private health insurance need that Government support by substantially improved Medicare rebates,’ he said.
 
‘They don’t really have a big grasp on the greater experience of primary healthcare as a GP, where the relationship of an ongoing nature it delivers is very significant and well evident.
 
‘Everybody in this space wants to do this low-intensity type of work, all very piously, saying, “we’re just trying to help general practice”.’
 
The rise in the use of telehealth comes after a COVID pandemic-induced spike, which saw 100 million telehealth services delivered to 17 million Australians between 2020–22.
 
Today, of those who had a telehealth consultation via any service, 87.7% said they would use telehealth for a consultation again if it was offered.
 
But Dr Benson is adamant that Bupa’s plan will not intrude on GPs’ space, saying most of its appointments so far have been after hours, when access to a GP is traditionally limited.
 
‘Half of the work that we’re doing is not in direct competition with mainstay general practice … there really is this heavy skew to when traditional primary care is closed,’ he said.
 
‘That is one of the reasons why we’ve extended this into a product is that it’s really providing this after-hours care solution, which we don’t believe is in competition with the lion’s share of mainstay general practice.
 
‘The reason we did it was because we don’t want to threaten or take away from that existing relationship between GPs and their regular practitioner and their regular patients.’
 
Blua officially opened for eligible Bupa members on 1 October.
 
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