New telehealth MBS numbers will immediately benefit rural and remote communities

New COVID-19 telehealth items announced today will immediately support rural and remote doctors to provide quality care throughout the pandemic, according to the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine (ACRRM).

“The College advocated for the additional MBS Item Numbers and welcomes the announcement,” Dr McPhee says.

“The Government’s advice to the public to contact their local GP by phone or video rather than attend a clinic in person is responsible and effective, but it did not recognise the workload this was putting on GPs and their practises.

“Having access to COVID-19 telehealth items on top of existing items supports rural General Practitioners to provide video and telephone consultations to patients concerned they are infected with the disease.”

The numbers now included on the MBS are 91800-91802 for telehealth and 91809-91011 for telephone consultations ranging from under 20 minutes to over 40 minutes.

These numbers recognise the breadth of the frontline work these GPs are undertaking in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic,” Dr McPhee says.

“They also allow for patients who are under home quarantine to access quality healthcare and reduce the risk of spreading the virus.”

Patients eligible for telehealth item numbers are those who have been diagnosed with COVID-19 but aren’t a hospital patient, or have been instructed to self-isolate, including health professionals.

Also eligible are people deemed vulnerable because they are aged over 70, an Indigenous person over 50, pregnant, a parent of an infant under 12 months, being treated for a chronic health condition, or immunocompromised.

“The ACRRM mission is to have the right doctors in the right places delivering high quality healthcare to rural and remote communities, and this announcement supports the work we do,” Dr McPhee says.