New telehealth items expanded to allow coronavirus screening
The temporary items have already been updated but the RACGP says they are still too many restrictions
The Federal Government has tweaked the new telehealth items so GPs are able to triage patients suspected of being infected with coronavirus.
Items for video or phone consultations were unveiled on Friday morning under emergency measures to deal with the outbreak.
The main idea is to shift more care online, particularly for “more susceptible” patients such as the elderly, those with chronic conditions, those who are immunocompromised and pregnant women.
However, both the AMA and RACGP immediately raised concerns that the wording of the new items prevented GPs from claiming for consults with other patient groups who had yet to be diagnosed with the virus or formally quarantined.
