Should Medicare fund consults when a doctor or patient is overseas?
A compliance campaign from health officials prompted some GPs to ask whether the rules were ripe for change.
The AMA is open to Medicare rule changes to allow claims while a doctor or patient is overseas but says the risk is telehealth clinics moving completely offshore.
Since Medicare began, the Health Insurance Act 1973 has required doctors and patients to be in Australia for services to attract rebates.
More than 5000 doctors will soon receive letters warning they may have broken this rule after the Department of Health and Aged Care cross-referenced Medicare data with Department of Home Affairs passenger records.
However, the compliance campaign has prompted multiple doctors to ask whether the rule should go, given the widespread advent of Medicare rebates for telehealth since 2020.
