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Minister moves to reassure GPs after ‘archaic’ telehealth change
Mark Butler has told the RACGP he will update telehealth bulk billing consent rules and that there are ‘no plans to pursue … punitive actions on this issue’.
Federal Health and Aged Care Minister Mark Butler has asked his department to provide new options for gaining telehealth bulk billing consent. (Image: AAP)
Federal Health and Aged Care Minster Mark Butler has instructed Government health bureaucrats to ‘provide options’ on a contentious Services Australia update which left practice owners drowning in a sea of red tape.
That update required GPs to fill in a form documenting patients’ verbal agreement to be bulk billed for telehealth – a complex and ‘old-fashioned’ step backwards.
But in a statement to the RACGP on Friday, Minister Butler said those changes will likely be scrapped.
‘I have asked my department to provide options to address concerns about the assignment of benefit for Medicare bulk billed claims, including legislative amendments,’ he said.
‘My department has advised me that until these changes are made, there are no plans to pursue any broad punitive actions on this issue, unless it relates to fraudulent claims against Medicare.’
Last year, the Department of Health and Aged Care (DoH) revealed the practice of requiring consent to bulk bill for telehealth was under review, after it was altered to accommodate the COVID-19 pandemic.
But Services Australia now states the preferred method for obtaining patient consent to be bulk billed for telehealth consultations is in writing or via email.
Verbal consent remains possible but only by using accompanying forms, meaning that while it was previously possible to document verbal consent in clinical notes, that option is no longer available.
The change sparked widespread anger and chaos among GPs, who described it as a breakdown of trust between the medical profession and the Government.
RACGP President Dr Nicole Higgins welcomed Friday’s change of heart, but said it showed the DoH had not communicated with, or sought feedback from, key stakeholders.
‘What’s really important moving forward is that we’re involved in discussions around what that legislative change should look like and how we modernise the process,’ she told newsGP.
‘It needs to be a modern system that’s digitalised and integrated with our medical software, that’s transparent, and that is seamless for both GPs and patients.’
Dr Higgins said the Services Australia move was a ‘kick in the guts’, and the last thing needed by already busy GPs.
‘We want to be spending time with our patients not filling in more paperwork,’ she said.
‘The announcement last week created so much anger among GPs and practices at a time when morale was already low.
‘Admin teams and practice managers were angry and confused. It caused chaos as everyone scrambled to become compliant, to do the right thing.’
The DoH is yet to reveal a timeframe or any details of potential bulk billing changes.
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