IfG.CC -
Institute for eGovernment

The Federal Government must focus on providing suitable broadband connectivity and technical capability to general practitioners and other healthcare providers in order to ensure the success of telehealth services in rural Australia, health professionals have warned.

The scheme, first announced by Prime Minister Julia Gillard during the 2010 federal election, offers $402.2 million in government funding over four years to provide Medicare rebates for some 495,000 online consultations to patients in rural, remote and outer metropolitan areas. The funding will also provide financial incentives and training to health professionals to encourage take-up of the scheme, and $50 million in funding to provide online triage and basic medical advice through videoconferencing.

The RACP is one of 28 organisations funded under DoHA's Telehealth Support program, which aims to encourage the use of telehealth to improve access to specialist medical care, especially for people living in rural and regional areas.

Patients in rural, regional and outer metropolitan areas are expected to be the biggest beneficiaries of the increase in Medicare funding for telehealth services because they will no longer have to travel to big cities to see specialists.

Incentive payments of $6000 are available for health practitioners who take up telehealth services, along with a $20 bonus each time a practitioner bulk bills a service in the first year. New Medicare items will allow benefits to be paid for existing consultation services conducted using video conferences.

The idea is that the user goes to a GP or other health centre (for example, nursing homes) to have a conference with a specialist who is farther away than the patient would like to travel.

As part of a $620 million initiative, the doctors who decide to do telehealth consultations in 2011/12 get a $6000 one-off payment to fund set-up costs. However, this amount drops to $4800 in 2012/13, $3900 in the next year and $3300 the year after that.

Online consultations have the ability to help overcome doctor shortages in rural areas and combat rising costs in the Australian healthcare system, according to Professor Moyez Jiwa, Chair of Health Innovation in the Faculty of Health Sciences at Curtin University.

The use of online video technology is a long way from being “routine practice”, which is now prompting further research.

Telehealth is a technological application between medical professionals and patients that allows easier communications between all parties, which has been an important development to address the problems in remote areas of Australia where patients are not necessarily in the vicinity of a medical specialist.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the experts meeting, African Union Commissioner for Social Affairs, her Excellency Bience Gawanas said a number of strategies, plan of action and initiatives directly or indirectly related with ICT for health have been developed and supported by the AU and its NEPAD coordinating and planning Agency in collaboration with AU Partners.

This new service will provide timely, accessible, face to face health information and counselling (via the internet) using the latest technology for men and their families. Information sessions have been delivered in these four locations.

It will meet amid concerns that overstretched communications networks will shortly no longer be able to meet its needs and the national broadband network (NBN) may not deliver the fast, reliable broadband system the Service needs.

“Due to the remote areas in which we operate, the Flying Doctor has always been innovative and embraced new technology,” said Mrs Joan Treweeke, President RFDS SE Section.

Since the launch of the federal scheme six months ago, 1200 doctors across Australia have applied for one-off $6000 grants, which were part of the government's $620 million ''telehealth'' program.

Since 1 July, doctors have been eligible to receive a one-off payment for installing videoconferencing equipment for use in consultations of $6000 and an additional amount per consultation for conducting video conferencing consultations.

The idea is that patients in remote or regional areas will have better access to technology via video-conferencing appointments set up through their GP.

Australian is moving slowly towards the use of telehealthcare, despite its potential for health care cost savings, and assisting older people to remain in their own homes rather than moving into residential aged care.

This was demonstrated most recently by the absence of any direct recommendation or section within the Productivity Commission's draft report on the potential of emerging technologies and possible savings.

The Federal Government has launched an $8 million in-home telemonitoring health trial for chronically ill veterans through the National Broadband Network (NBN).

The initiative was announced by Minister for Veterans’ Affairs, Warren Snowdon, and Communications Minister, Senator Stephen Conroy.

Since the beginning of July people living in remote and regional parts of Australia, as well as some outer metropolitan areas have been able to have video-consultations with medical specialists thanks to the introduction of Medicare rebates for those services.

The payments are designed to encourage take-up of the government's $620 million telehealth program.

Patients in Altona in Julia Gillard's western Melbourne electorate and North Altona in federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon's neighbouring electorate, those in Blacktown and Penrith in western Sydney, and patients in Redland Bay and Strathpine in Brisbane will be able to take advantage of the telehealth scheme.

A crackdown on telehealth incentives in this week's budget came after the government found some doctors had hooked up Skype cameras to their computers and conducted telehealth consultations with colleagues in the same practice so they could claim a $6000 telehealth payment.

New rules will now impose a minimum distance of 15km between practitioners before the incentive can be claimed and doctors will have to perform 10 consultations before they get the full payment.

Developed over four years by GS1 Australia in association with the National E-Health Transition Authority (NEHTA), the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), state and territory health departments and a number of medical device and pharmaceutical suppliers and industry associations, GS1 Recallnet Healthcare is an electronic product recall notification management system for therapeutic goods.

A new group, called the One in Four Lives group, funded by health insurance and product firms including BT and Philips, released a white paper on telehealth on Wednesday.

Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Stephen Conroy said $20.3 million had been provided to support the projects.

“These exciting initiatives will help demonstrate how important high-speed broadband is to the future of healthcare and highlight why it should be rolled out to all Australians,” Senator Conroy said.

In what is being touted as one of the most important breakthroughs in interoperability in a decade, the global healthcare standards-making body said it will spend the next few months planning for the move with the policy expected to take effect early next year.