Practice support
Telehealth
The RACGP has set up a special telehealth service centre, available for any telehealth related enquiries.
The service centre can be contacted on 1800 257 053 or by completing the enquiry form below. A member of the service centre will respond to your enquiry within 3 business hours.From 1 July 2011, Medicare rebates and financial incentives have been available for telehealth services under the Connecting Health Services with the Future initiative. These Medicare rebates are available across the full range of medical specialties and are for patient-end clinical support provided by general practitioners (GPs) or by practice nurses/registered Aboriginal health workers on behalf of a GP as well as specialist-end services provided by a specialist with a Medicare provider number. The rebates and related one-off incentive payments acknowledge the additional complexity in providing patients with online access to their specialists. The consultations for which MBS rebates apply are available to patients from remote, regional and outer metropolitan areas as well as patients of residential aged care facilities or Aboriginal medical services anywhere in Australia.
The RACGP has developed telehealth resources to assist general practices with implementing and managing video consultations:
Changes to Telehealth Financial Incentives in 2012-2013 Budget
As of July 1st 2012, changes to Medicare Benefits Schedule funding will take place. MBS Online provide an overview for the 2012-13 budget and changes to financial incentives in Telehealth or you can download the PDF fact sheet below.
Telehealth fact sheet: Budget 2012-13 (20KB)
Telehealth factsheet
The telehealth factsheet informs on matters relating to telehealth, eligibility, the services, and the rebates and incentives available to practices and health professionals.
Implementation guidelines for video consultations in general practice – Version 2.0
RACGP released the Implementation guidelines for video consultations in general practice – Version 1.0 in August 2011. Following feedback from industry, and with the recent release of the Department of Health and Ageing’s Guidance on security, privacy and technical specifications for clinicians, the RACGP has reviewed these guidelines and is now releasing Version 2.0. The Implementation guidelines for video consultations in general practice – Version 2.0 are intended to provide further understandable and easy to interpret guidance on the range of implementation issues as practices consider technical, security, and usage issues.
Implementation guidelines for video consultations in general practice (1.1MB)
Patient information brochure on video consultations template
This template has been designed to assist practices with preparing their own patient information brochure. The template covers many aspects of video consultations including what to prepare for a video consultation, who will be present, Medicare rebates and eligibility, and privacy of video consultations. Practices can adapt the patient information to suit their practice.
Patient information brochure on video consultations template (68KB)
Practice video consultation booking checklists template
Booking video consultations require particular coordination and preparation. In addition to the usual specialist referral process, additional details to consider include pre-testing of video conference interoperability, parties present at both ends, and any particular patient requirements such as interpreters and cultural considerations. The booking checklist template has been designed to assist practices with booking video consultations and provides eight areas to consider when liaising with specialists and booking the consultation. Practices can adapt the booking checklist information to suit their practice.
Practice video consultation booking checklists template (67KB)
Video consultation etiquette factsheet
Video consultations are an exciting development for general practice. As an alternative to face-to-face, GPs and other clinicians will need to consider ‘video consultation etiquette’ when providing this service to patients. Video consultation etiquette includes being mindful of how the consultation room is set up, professional courtesy, introductions, and the audio and visual aspects to video consultations.
Video consultation etiquette factsheet (579KB)
Post-video consultation patient evaluation tool template
To assist general practices with a patient evaluation process, the RACGP has developed a simple post-video consultation patient evaluation tool template. This evaluation tool template is specific to video consultations and is designed to generate patient-level data that practices can use to improve their video consultation systems quickly as issues emerge during the implementation phase. This tool will enable practices to evaluate and improve the process and outcomes of consultations via video conference. Practices can adapt the evaluation information to suit their practice.
Post-video consultation patient evaluation tool template (68KB)
Telehealth enquiry form
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