Recent changes to Medicare Benefits thanks to a $1.1 billion coronavirus program have radically changed the face of telehealth in Australia. Rather than being limited to remote communities and people with difficulty attending doctor’s appointments, now telehealth is bulk-billable and available to all Australians. Telehealth gives eye health professionals and their patients a convenient and safe way to connect.
What Are the Current MBS Benefits and How do I Stay up to Date?
As of the current time, bulk-billing of teleoptometry and teleophthalmology appointments and the general availability is a temporary measure, with proposed end date of September 20, but as both the pandemic and the way people interact evolve that could change. As it stands the bulk-billing of telehealth services is available to all Australians during the pandemic and in an effort to support healthcare professionals during the crisis, the government is doubling the usual bulk-billing incentive for telehealth. The doubled bulk-billing incentive also applies to face-to-face appointments. As of March 30, 2020, only optometrist telehealth consults in which an ophthalmologist is present are available for bulk billing, but with the coronavirus telehealth program rapidly evolving, frequent visits to MBS Online or Optometry Australia may be needed to keep abreast of any changes or new codes.
In addition:
- Teleoptometry consults that are bulk-billed cannot have a gap payment.
- You can still charge your patients the full fee for an appointment, but they will not be able to claim it on Medicare.
- Some private health insurers may offer a rebate for telehealth consults.
What Is Telehealth?
The term telehealth refers to a number of different technologies and techniques that fall under the umbrella of remotely connecting with a patient for a consultation, diagnosis and treatment, so long as it does not require direct physical presence or intervention, or specialist equipment.
What are the Benefits of Telehealth?
Until recently, telehealth services in Australia have been limited to remote communities and those with mobility or accessibility issues preventing them from easily attending face-to-face appointments, but with the advent of COVID-19, strict social distancing and lockdown, telehealth services have been made available for all. In addition to offering accessibility to patients, telehealth services have a number of benefits for both practices and patients:
- Increase in practice revenue due to expanded reach and accessibility
Telehealth appointments don’t require proximity, allowing practices to engage with patients from around the country, greatly expanding the reach of the practitioner. The added accessibility offered to patients through telehealth services also makes it easier for new patients to engage with the practice.
- Reduced practice overhead
During these difficult times, allowing optometrists to work from home or remotely can lower practice overhead, both in terms of money and resources.
- Reduced patient no-shows
Patients who book online are far less likely to miss an appointment, as are patients who book telehealth consults.
- Reduces or negated threat of COVID-19 infection
Offering telehealth consults reduces exposure to potential threats of infection, whether it be COVID-19, a seasonal flu, a measles outbreak or other virulent virus. Even if you mix face-to-face consults with telehealth appointments, the reduced number of in-person practice visits also limits possible vectors of infection. The MyHealth1st booking platform features optional COVID-19 pre-screening, allowing customers to further increase the safety of their practice.
Technological Requirements
Setting up your practice for telehealth consults may seem like a large technological hurdle, the technology required is readily available and you will already have most of it on hand. While it is possible to do some telehealth consults via Skype, Zoom, Whatsapp or other video conferencing platform, these aren’t necessarily secure, with people potentially being able to listen in to or interrupt other patient’s appointments.
No matter the platform, for video conferencing you will need a camera and either a microphone or a headset with a built in mic.
There are no specific technologies required to be eligible for MBS incentives other than the necessity that the technology or service used adheres to Australian Privacy Principles .
Depending on the platform you choose there may be privacy or security concerns that need to be tackled. Ideally a practice should use a secure end to end telehealth solution, such as the MyHealth1st browser-based, encrypted and fully secured solution. Our telehealth service works with most browsers and is fully encrypted so you can conduct a consult without fear of a patient’s privileged information being released.
If you choose to use our telehealth service, there’s no need to fill in Skype information or Zoom addresses for an appointment, or to contact patients beforehand to give them the details of how the appointment will be conducted. When a patient books an appointment, both the patient and the doctor are sent an email with a unique link to the telehealth session. The link only goes active 10 minutes before the appointment is due to start and requires no third party programs or apps to run.
Telehealth Standards
Telehealth standards and guidelines for optometrists and ophthalmologists don’t differ greatly from those for normal consults, but do have stricter guidelines for patient consent and adequate technology. When performing a telehealth consultation, you must:
- Obtain the patient’s informed consent to participate in a telehealth consult and ensure patient confidentiality and privacy.
- Decide on the appropriateness of a telehealth consult or whether proper care requires a face-to-face consult.
- Make their identity known to the patient.
- Confirm the identity of the patient to the best of their ability.
- Explain to the patient the processes in the telehealth consult.
- Obtain and assess the patient’s medical history, condition and clinical signs to aid examination.
- The practitioner must be in a quiet, private place for the telehealth consultation.
- Accept ultimate responsibility for evaluation of information, assessment and treatment.
- Keep an adequate record of the consultation.
- The video conferencing program or platform that the optometrist/ophthalmologist utilises for telehealth must be available to patients for free.
For more detailed information on Optometrist and Ophthalmologist telehealth guidelines, Optometry Australia published a clinical practice telehealth guide on March 30, 2020.
To register for MyHealth1st's integrated, clinically validated telehealth solution - click here
What Kind of Services can be Offered?
For the most part, any kind of diagnosis or appointment that doesn’t require physical proximity, intervention or specialist equipment can be offered via telehealth. Determining the appropriateness of telehealth as a diagnosis or eye care option is the first priority for any telehealth booking. Many appointments may necessitate a face-to-face appointment but Optometry Australia is advising delaying all face-to-face appointments that are non-vital . As such, telehealth is an excellent way to triage patients to determine the level of need. In addition, telehealth is perfect for diagnosing eye infections.
How to Promote that your Practice Offers Telehealth
Implementing telehealth into your practice is a great first step, but it's vital you let your patients know that you now telehealth appointments. Informing them of how they can book a telehealth appointment is of equal importance.
We suggest adding information to your website which links into your Myhealth1st bookings to streamline user flow and drive patient bookings. Updating your practice "on hold" recordings to inform patients that they can now book a telehealth consultation with your practice online can also drive patients towards the service.
Sending out a mass communication to your patients via email and/or sms informing them of telehealth services can also help drive rapid adoption.
Please don’t hesitate to reach out to the MyHealth1st team if you'd like any help with this.
Join the Telehealth Revolution
If you have any questions about implementing our encrypted, in-browser telehealth service for your practice, or want to take advantage of our extensive experience in healthcare booking to help your practice grow and thrive in these uncertain times, the team at MyHealth1st is ready to help.
