GP corporate boss calls for telehealth rebate cut
Dr Hamish Meldrum says rebates for phone consultations should be reduced to encourage more care via video
The boss of a major GP corporate wants Medicare rebates for telephone consults cut by $1 to encourage a bigger uptake of video-based consults.
It has been estimated that 3% of the telehealth consults offered over the last five months have used video.
Dr Hamish Meldrum, a director of Ochre Health which operates more than 40 GP practices, says there is a risk that the heavy reliance on phone consults means the specialty could be “shooting itself in the foot”.
“I think phone consults have important role.
