Telehealth given $309m injection

TELEHEALTH will become a permanent fixture in Australia’s healthcare system under a landmark $308.6m federal government package.

Health Minister Greg Hunt will announce the investment on Monday, including $106m for the telehealth system, which will be included in this week’s budget update.

A remarkable 86.3 million telehealth services have been provided to more than 16.1 million Aussies since the Covid pandemic took hold in March 2020.

“Telehealth has been transformational to Australia’s universal health care and has played a critical role in ensuring the continuity of care for hundreds of thousands of Australian patients during the Covid-19 pandemic, protecting the health of patients and health professionals,” Mr Hunt said.

“It offers greater flexibility to health care as part of universal Medicare.”

Telehealth enables GPs, specialists and allied health professionals to keep in touch with their patients by phone or online.

More than 89,000 providers have used the service, with the $106m in funding to prop up the system over the next four years.

Almost $32m of that will fund a workforce incentive program, which will provide additional funding to GPs through the inclusion of ongoing telehealth items.

Peak medical bodies have been calling for the service to stay, with the Royal Australasian College of Physicians dubbing it a “game-changer” and “critical tool” for specialist care.

The $308.6m health package will also include:

$58.8M to support access to mental health services;

$41.2M to improve health services in regional and rural Australia;

$77M to boost access to

Medicare; and,

$25.6M for Covid-19 efforts through primary care.

Under the mental health support, access to up to 20 Medicaresubsidised psychology sessions a year will be extended until December next year.