‘Outrageous’: Petition calls for PIP rule change
Health officials are ignoring millions of telehealth consults when calculating practices’ patient workload
A GP has launched a petition calling on the Federal Government to reverse its “illogical” exclusion of telehealth consults from its $350 million Practice Incentives Program.
It comes after Australian Doctor revealed that health officials had disregarded millions of telehealth consults when calculating payments based on practices’ patient workload.
The Department of Health argued the move was justified to encourage face-to-face care because it did not regard telehealth as a “full substitute” for in-person consults.
But Dr John Henderson said the result had been a “backdoor” funding cut, slashing PIP cash by $50,000 at his practice outside Geelong in Victoria.
