Australia’s biggest after-hours GP corporate has begun marketing 24-hour bulk-billing telehealth to patients — adding to concerns of an entrepreneurial gold rush driven by Medicare’s new coronavirus items.

The National Home Doctor Service is now offering phone and video consults through a “sister business” called 24-7MedCare, which promises to bulk-bill all Medicare card holders Australia-wide.

In marketing emails sent out to patients on Wednesday, it said the consults were available for those needing medical certificates, the treatment of common coughs or colds, as well as patients seeking repeat scripts.

Other services on offer include mental health counselling, routine chronic disease check-ups and “any consultation where the trade-off between attending in person and staying at home favours the latter”, it said.