Telehealth rebate move for rural docs welcomed

The MBS telehealth breakthrough for doctors in drought-affected areas is wonderful news, says ACRRM's Ruth Stewart

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Rural GPs will be able to access Medicare rebates for mental-health phone consults for the first time, to ease distress in drought-hit farming communities.

MBS rules allow rebates only for face-to-face GP consultations, although the Rural Doctors Association of Australia and ACRRM have long been lobbying for an exception for rural and remote patients because of barriers to access.

ACRRM President Associate Professor Ruth Stewart said the MBS telehealth breakthrough for drought-affected areas – concentrated in NSW and part of southern Queensland – was “wonderful news”.

“Doctors in those communities are under strain because they are part of the community.  This is the thing about being a rural doctor; when your community suffers, you suffer.

“There will be relief in knowing that people are more able to access their services.”

Mental health was a core part of the curriculum at the rural-oriented GP college, she added.

The RDAA, ACRRM and the RACGP will now work with the Department of Health to “finalise the parameters” for eligibility, the RDAA and ACRRM said in a statement after getting the green light for the change in talks last week.

“We are now very pleased to welcome the support from Minister for Health Greg Hunt and Minister for Rural Health Bridget McKenzie to ensure that appropriately qualified rural GPs will also be able to access this telehealth initiative,” the statement said.

The latest talks came after Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull announced an additional support package for drought-affected communities which will take the commonwealth’s assistance to $576 million.

Among the extra drought measures, Mr Turnbull revealed added funding for Primary Health Networks in affected regions and dropping a requirement for patients who receive treatment from psychologists via teleconference to attend the first appointment in person.

RDAA CEO Peta Rutherford said the RDAA hoped to finalise eligibility requirements for non-face-to-face mental-health counselling by GPs for their usual patients in the next couple of weeks.

However, the full bureaucratic process to effect the policy change might take a few months more.

“My understanding is that the face-to-face requirement currently in place for psychologists will be removed fairly soon,” Ms Rutherford said.

“But the GP part of it will take a bit longer because they have not been given access to that (telehealth) item number before, and there are some things to work out in relation to that.”

The crisis measure could “lay a platform” for understanding how telehealth could benefit people in rural and remote communities, Ms Rutherford said.

“This is potentially a big step. If we are able to demonstrate that this is a model that works for rural communities, it could certainly influence where we go in the next step for telehealth.”

In his announcement on August 5, Mr Turnbull said the government would newly invest $11.4 million in mental-health support initiatives for communities in drought.

In one measure, eligible communities can apply for up to $1 million for initiatives that improve mental health and community resilience. It is expected that allocations will be between $200,000 and $300,000 per community.