Is forcing GPs to bulk-bill the MBS telehealth items legal?
There are important questions about the constitutional validity of what has been done
There is a clause for GPs using the new telehealth items: patients defined as ‘susceptible’ to COVID-19 must be bulk-billed (no exceptions).
Is this legal? Margaret Faux, an expert on Medicare and its mysteries, offers her view.
The roll out of new COVID-19 MBS telehealth services has been welcome news in a time of crisis. That cannot be disputed.
But in a bold move, the Federal Government has made it a mandatory requirement that doctors bulk-bill those deemed susceptible to the virus.
