Date: 26 July 2023
The RACGP is pleased to respond to the MRAC Telehealth Post Implementation Review. The MRAC is currently undertaking a post-implementation review of changes to MBS telehealth services, as requested by the Minister for Health and Aged Care, the Hon Mark Butler MP, to inform potential changes to MBS telehealth principles.
The RACGP has provided a series of recommendations for improving each of the ten ‘2020 MBS Taskforce Telehealth Principles’.
Our submission called on the government to develop clear telehealth principles that support GPs and other health professionals to deliver high-quality, equitable and safe telehealth consultations to their patients from now into the future by:
- ensuring barriers such as unnecessary administrative burden for GPs are addressed, including MBS complexity
- shifting the preference of video over phone telehealth consultations, particularly for patients with minimal levels of digital literacy, and priority populations, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
- providing greater investment in general practice care provided through telehealth, along with supporting further research into telehealth in general practice settings.
Read the submission
MBS Review Advisory Committee (MRAC) Telehealth Post Implementation Review - MBS Review Taskforce Telehealth Principles (PDF)