ACRRM welcomes the Federal Government’s announcement this week to invest in telehealth as a permanent primary healthcare tool. 

ACRRM President Dr Sarah Chalmers says telehealth has become widely accepted by patients who live in regional, rural and remote Australia, and when used to support in-person consultations and in the context of continuity of care with a local practitioner, it is an effective and accessible form of healthcare delivery. 

ACRRM has been a long-term advocate of appropriate telehealth consultations and has developed a comprehensive set of telehealth standards, guidelines and educational resources.  

The new arrangements from 1 January 2022 will include:

  • The most recent items for GPs and Allied Health introduced July 2021 will remain unchanged
  • New item for GPs for 20+ minute telephone consultation for doctors working in MM6 and 7
  • GP pregnancy counselling and sexual and reproductive exemptions continue to exist until June 2023 and nicotine cessation items for phone and video to December 2023
  • Funding for patient end services will be discontinued for GPs, OMP, Nurse Practitioners and Midwives but continue for practice nurses and AHW
  • Non-GP Specialists
    • Initial and Complex consults will be funded for in-person and video consultations
    • Less complex and shorter consultations will be funded for in-person, video and phone
    • Telehealth for admitted patients - introduced in September 2021 will cease
    • The older telehealth items introduced in 2002 and 2012 for Specialists will be discontinued 
  • Compliance
    • Telehealth item numbers will be included in the prescribed pattern of services threshold. The 80/20 Rule will now include in-person, video and phone consultations
    • There will be a new 30/20 threshold rule for phone consultations only 

More information on the MBS arrangements for patients accessing telehealth services from 1 January 2022, is available here.