Push for increased telehealth funding ahead of Budget

Ahead of the 2023 Federal Budget on 9 May, RACGP President Dr Nicole Higgins is pushing for increased telehealth funding to ensure all patients receive fit-for-purpose telehealth consultations with their usual GP.
 
As part of the college’s longstanding advocacy priorities, this includes Medicare rebates for longer phone consultations and the re-introduction of rebates for phone consultations for mental health items and GP chronic disease management plans to become part of the permanent telehealth model.
 
‘Telehealth is a game-changer for many people, and we must ensure it is accessible for all,’ Dr Higgins said.
 
‘We must ensure Australia’s telehealth scheme is fit for purpose and that no patients are left behind.’
 
In July last year, patient MBS rebates for GP phone consults longer than 20 minutes were scrapped, but patient rebates for video calls lasting 20–40 minutes were kept, as well as video calls lasting longer than 40 minutes.
 
The RACGP was opposed to this decision at the time, and Dr Higgins said the upcoming Budget is ‘the perfect opportunity to make it right’.

‘Reintroducing rebates for phone consultations covering mental health items and GP chronic disease management plans will also benefit many Australians – so I call on the Government to make that change,’ she said.
 
According to the RACGP President, greater funding for telehealth services would be particularly beneficial for vulnerable patient groups who may be ‘at risk of falling between the cracks of our health system’.
 
‘Removing patient rebates for longer phone consultations was a backward step that has disproportionately affected people in rural and remote areas,’ she said.
 
‘If you consider a patient living in a small town some distance from a major city or regional centre who must carefully manage a range of chronic health conditions such as diabetes or asthma and who faces a long drive to see a GP for an in-person consultation, you realise how important phone consults are.
 
‘Not everyone can have their health needs met by a brief appointment, and that’s why longer consultations with a GP are so important. So, if this patient can have a longer phone consult with their GP lasting more than 20 minutes, they can stay on top of their complex conditions, and it can make all the difference to their long-term health outlook.’
 
As well as considering those who have limited internet access, for which longer phone consultations ‘are needed’ as video may not be an option, Dr Higgins highlighted their value for older patients, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and those living with disability or limited mobility.
 
‘Keep in mind that these patient cohorts already have poorer health outcomes than the general population and are at risk of falling through the cracks without strong access to general practice care,’ she said.
 
‘Without rebates for longer phone consults we are essentially denying healthcare access to those who need it most.
 
‘We have it all the wrong way around and next week’s Budget is our chance to address this discrepancy.’
 
The RACGP’s June 2022 submission to the Australian National Audit Office’s audit of the expansion of telehealth services detailed the ‘successes and failures’ of implementing telehealth services in an effort to inform future models.
 
Describing telehealth as ‘a critical enabler’ of timely and high-quality services to patients, the submission outlines recommendations the Government should address to improve the current telehealth model, based on GP feedback detailing the challenges they faced during the rollout and expansion of the service.
 
To support equal, fit-for-purpose, high-quality care for all Australians, the RACGP says phone consultations must be:
 

• available for all GP consultation lengths and types
• valued at the same level as face-to-face and video items
• linked to a patient’s usual GP, with some exceptions for services provided by GPs with special interests upon usual GP referral.

federal budget general practice funding MBS phone consultations telehealth