Australians with urgent but non-life-threatening medical conditions have been prevented from accessing bulk-billed telehealth consults during the pandemic if they do not have a regular GP.

The government has made changes due to COVID-19 to allow telehealth appointments to be bulk-billed, encouraging patients to avoid physically attending a GP practice. However, patients can only be bulk-billed for telehealth if they have seen their regular GP or another health professional at the same practice, face-to-face in the 12 months prior.

President of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, Dr Karen Price, in an open letter, said that the 12-month rule was in place to help established, accredited GP practices provide better care and to stop opportunistic, digital-only “dial-a-doc” practices emerging just to “click over a high volume of appointments as fast as possible”..

“While the number of immunocompromised GPs or those caring for immunocompromised family is low, the current demand for general practice care is unprecedented – requiring flexibility of rules that were established at a time when the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic was unknown,” she said.

“…GPs furloughing can see patients via telehealth, the strict application of the 12-month rule means that they are often precluded from seeing some patients via telehealth, despite the fact the patient is known to the GP and the practice.”

Dr Price also stressed that doctors should be able to practise in a way that is the intent of Medicare, which is to provide access to healthcare as part of a social contract of the government to the electorate.

“Nobody wants to waste taxpayers dollars on any kind of ill-conceived business model, but we just want to have some common sense applied,” she said highlighting that with elective surgery resuming even through cases drop, hospital staff is still under pressure across Australia.

Today’s numbers:

  • NSW has reported 10,130 new infections and 24 deaths. Currently there are 1,795 in hospital with 121 people in ICU.
  • Victoria recorded 16 more deaths and 9,391 cases, while 543 people are in hospital with 75 people in ICU.
  • ACT has had no deaths reported today and 500 new infections. Three people are in ICU out of 51 hospitalisations.
  • Seventeen people are in hospital in Tasmania with Covid and one person is in intensive care. The state recorded 637 new cases and no deaths.
  • Queensland has recorded 5854 new cases of COVID-19. There have been eight deaths overnight in the state. Two of the eight people who died were residents in aged care.