GPs have voluntarily repaid $689,000 after the crackdown on Medicare’s ‘existing relationship’ rule for telehealth consults, the Department of Health has revealed.

Earlier this year, 430 GPs were sent letters asking them to review their MBS claims for telehealth items from the previous nine months.

It followed the introduction of new requirements designed to stamp out corporate rorts that demanded GPs could only provide telehealth services if the patient had attended a face-to-face appointment at the practice at least once in the previous 12 months. 

“Our analysis of claiming data identified that approximately 2.5% of all COVID-19 telehealth services may not have met this requirement,” the Department of Health said.