After outcries from major peak medical bodies across the country, the government has made a fast backflip on the decision to remove commonplace telehealth items from the medicare rebate scheme, attracting praise from the medical community. 

The decision to remove rebates for telehealth phone call consultations - announced by the government late last year - was condemned by experts across the nation, causing four General Practitioner bodies to lobby the government to reverse the action.

Dubbo-based oncologist Doctor Florian Honeyball, who regularly travels to western plains communities, said that there was no support in medical circles, nor any perspective from where they thought that the decision could be productive for rural and regional patients. 

“Definitely not all the time…but every now and again, particularly while there’s a pandemic going on it’s a good alternative. There’s a lot of support from medical circles to continue telephone conferences into the future,” Dr Honeyball said. 

Member for Parkes Mark Coulton said in response to the complaints that the services they were ceasing funding for were being underutilised by doctors and patients, although Dr Honeyball said that this wasn’t the case for most. 

“Telephone calls aren’t going to be replacing every consultation we take with the patient, but for instance, outside the clinic we had last month in Walgett, there was a large flood where people from Brewarrina and Lightning Ridge couldn’t come to see me even though I was in Walgett,” Dr Honeyball said. 

“We had to do consultations over the phone and bulk-billed for those, and that was a significant improvement on what would have been the alternative of getting them to come back in a month’s time,” Dr Honeyball said. 

According to Dr Honeyball, there are a number of circumstances that continue to draw his patients towards telehealth, despite him encouraging face-to-face consultation where possible. 

“Realistically, a lot of my patients, as an oncologist, are very hesitant to go out in the community. Instead, they can access care at home through conversation,” Dr Honeyball said. 

“The other problem that we have is a lot of our patients, particularly in older age groups, get a lot of fear and anxiety around navigating video conferencing, and they’re much more comfortable talking on the phone,” he said. 

President of the Rural Doctors Association of Australia Doctor Megan Belot said that the continuing access to these services are necessary as Omicron continues to spread into regional areas and overwhelm local hospital systems. 

“This measure will make a significant difference in slowing down the transmission of Omicron and helping to keep rural health services open and adequately staffed,” Dr Belot said. 

“Telehealth enables patients to still access care, while also providing a layer of protection to other patients and health professionals, by reducing instances of exposure,” said Dr Belot. 

The Medicare items for telehealth will continue to be available until 30 June to support GPs and Consultant Specialists, however medical experts are calling for more permanency. 

Royal Australian College of General Practitioners President Doctor Karen Price said that more could be done to assist the disadvantaged who have the least access to internet connectivity and medical services. 

“A six-month restoration of these rebates is welcome; however, we must not stop there - this must be a permanent fixture of telehealth for years to come and the RACGP will continue fighting to make that happen,” Dr Price said. 

The changes have been backdated to January 1, allowing anyone who used the services since then to claim. The 50 per cent loading for video conferences for regional and rural patients is yet to be reinstated, though peak bodies are continuing to fight for its return.