The Federal Government’s plan to pay general practices for registering their elderly patients needs a major funding boost to appropriately compensate all GPs for non-face-to-face work, the RACGP says.

Starting in July next year, practices will be able to claim quarterly lump-sum payments to provide co-ordinated care and telehealth to patients aged 70 and above.

The scheme, which is expected to cost $449 million over three years, will be voluntary for both patients and practices and will not replace any fee-for-service Medicare items, according to Minister for Health Greg Hunt.

“GPs and others in their practice will be able to provide consultations, referrals, scripts and test results remotely — without seeing patients face-to-face,” he said.