The Federal Government has announced telehealth will be a permanent fixture of the health system, with the current MBS items expected to remain in place next year.

However, one major change will be that telehealth consults will be included in the calculations for how much practices receive from the Practice Incentives Program.

It comes after a campaign by GPs, angry that consults via phone or video were being disregarded when calculating payments based on patient load, known as Standardised Whole Patient Equivalent (SWPE).

The Department of Health had argued the move was justified to encourage face-to-face care because it did not regard telehealth as a “full substitute” for in-person consults.