GPs? Hold the line, please Telehealth opens up exciting frontiers of care but GPs want sound leadership to make it pay.
Jan Hallam reports.
Telehealth, that all-encompassing term that includes video, telephone, digital messaging and email, has transformed the primary care landscape in a few short months. While the catalyst was a pandemic, telehealth has shot rapidly onto the Medical Benefit Scheme and many GPs have been scrambling to find their digital feet ever since. While its reviews are variable depending on whose opinion is sought, its usefulness when confronted with a highly contagious disease is incontrovertible. The big question on everyone’s lips, will telehealth become a permanent fixture and be integral to general practice after September 30? Health Minister Greg Hunt indicated in June that this was his preferred position but he has already moved to appease growing GP concerns, advocated by the AMA and the RACGP about the so-called ‘popup’ telehealth services. The President of the AMA, Dr Tony Bartone, and President of the RACGP, Dr Harry Nespolon, 24 | AUGUST 2020
while both urging the retention of telehealth, welcomed the Health Minister regulating the use of telehealth by requiring GP providers to have an existing and continuous relationship with a patient in order to provide such services. “This will ensure patients continue to receive quality, ongoing care from a GP who knows their medical history and needs,” Minister Hunt said. He defined ‘relationship’ as “the patient having seen the same practitioner for a face-to-face service in the last 12 months, or having seen a doctor at the same practice for a face-to-face service during the same period”. In the AMA’s submission to a Senate select committee, Dr Bartone said with more than 30% of all consultations being done by telehealth, patients were clearly making a case for its retention. “Telehealth is not a substitute for face-to-face visits to the doctor, MEDICAL FORUM | CHILD HEALTH ISSUE
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