Managing Director
of Synapse Medical
Services.
video consultation through the Internet
is recognised as being an ideal medium to
improve accessibility to specialist medical
services in rural and remote Australia.
Numerous telehealth success stories were
trumpeted at the recent Health Informatics
Society of Australia (HISA) conference
in Adelaide, together with real concern
over recognised barriers to using the new
technological system. Among the barriers
was the dearth of knowledge about the
Medical Benefits Scheme (MBS) and how to
correctly bill for these services.
specialist and patient-end rebates, which
are claimable for outpatient services in
`telehealth eligible' areas. An eligible-area
exemption applies to all residential aged-care
indigenous people and residents in nursing
homes have access to telehealth at all times.
and the (usually metropolitan) specialist
end. From 1 November 2012, these two ends
must be at least 15 kilometres apart. The
specialist-end service must be an eligible
service (meaning a rebate is available).
are quite straightforward such as questions
concerning referrals and aftercare. All
requirements for valid referrals (which you
can read about in the Winter 2013 edition of
The Private Practice eZine) apply to telehealth,
as do the aftercare rules so, no rebate for
aftercare, real or virtual.
and remote parts of the country,
·AllusualMedicarerequirements,suchasreferralsandaftercare,apply.
·Thespecialistservicemustbeclaimablebeforethepatient-endservicebecomesclaimable.
·Bothservicesdonothavetobeclaimedbutmustbeclaimable.