Feds hang up on phone patients
COST containment has been put ahead of patient safety in coronavirus management as the Federal Government refuses to extend Medicare rebates for telehealth consultations to all patients.
Australian Medical Association president Dr Tony Bartone is appealing for the Government to allow all GP and specialists to get a Medicare rebate when they consult patients over the phone during the coronavirus outbreak.
The Government allowed a limited number of telehealth consults in its coronavirus response announced last week but these were restricted only to people aged over 70, those with a chronic illness, parents with new babies and people who are pregnant.
The AMA says they should be available to every patient so that no one has to risk catching coronavirus by sitting in a doctor’s waiting room.
It would also protect the frontline medical workforce from the virus and allow quarantined and sick doctors to continue working as the medical workforce is overwhelmed by COVID-19.
“Broad access to telehealth means that we can engage doctors who may not be able to be involved in assessing COVID-19 patients including doctors who themselves may have to self-isolate for 14 days,” Australian Medical Association president Dr Tony Bartone said.
Dr Omar Khorshid told a meeting of the nation’s peak doctors group that unless the telehealth rebates were extended COVID-19 “will take out our medical workforce, our specialists, doctors and GPs, their nurses and practices out of our system”. “The more people are sitting in waiting rooms infecting other hosts with a virus more spread we’re going to get,” he told News Corp.
“Working from home is going to be a key strategy not just for the medical profession, but for all industries as well to deal with this crisis.
“And a doctor on quarantine or is moderately sick at home is perfectly capable of performing consultations, as long as we put the infrastructure in place to enable that.”
Dr Khorshid blamed pennypinching bureaucrats for the decision not to make telehealth consultations more widely available. “I’m not privy to the discussions are going on in the health department. I think there is some concern about cost containment of the MBS (Medicare) like there always is,” he said.
Dr Khorshid said the measure was unlikely to cost the Government more when all it would do was remove the requirement for doctors to physically see a patient in order to qualify for a Medicare rebate.