The Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) is conducting an audit to assess whether the Department of Health effectively managed the expansion of telehealth services during and post the COVID-19 pandemic. ACRRM has contributed to the audit by lodging a submission.
The College used this opportunity to raise key issues related to program delivery over the past two years as well as to strongly advocate for improving support for telehealth for doctors who are based in rural areas to support the people in their towns and the more remote people in surrounding areas.
Telehealth use in rural and remote areas is largely telephone-based, and many of the most vulnerable patients, such as the aged, the economically disadvantaged and people in very remote situations are often the people least likely to have access or capacity to use video-conferencing options. Given the disproportionate reliance on telehealth by people in rural and remote areas, feedback from members strongly indicates that the removal of MBS items for longer telephone consults will undoubtedly serve to widen the existing health disadvantage.
In addition, removing support for general practitioners to take part in patient health telehealth consultations with a consultant specialist has been a retrograde step in addressing the fragmentation of care that impacts the quality of care that people in rural and remote areas are able to receive.
You can read the full ACRRM submission here. The College has also recently reviewed and updated its position statement on telehealth in rural and remote areas.
Read the updated position statement here.