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.
There are no rules to prevent a doctor doing just one telehealth service to claim the $6000, but the Department of Health and Medicare will monitor the ratio of incentives to services and make adjustments if rorting emerges.
The Australian Medical Association has warned that the new scheme could be hampered as many specialists do not use computers.
Ms Roxon said the incentives would help regional GPs buy equipment and train staff to provide the consultations that would allow rural patients to consult city-based medical specialists without travelling huge distances.
To get maximum impact and ensure most doctors sign up early to provide telehealth and deliver on Labor's 2010 election promise, the government will begin to scale down the incentives from July next year.
Doctors who take part in telehealth will also receive a 35 per cent loading on their Medicare rebate and specialists will get a 50 per cent loading.
The Prime Minister and Ms Roxon will today take part in a joint videoconference in Darwin and Adelaide to showcase the new telehealth services due to be rolled out from Friday.
The government expects to pay for 495,000 telehealth consultations by July 2015.
The telehealth program will cover 62 per cent of the population. Only patients living in inner metropolitan areas will be excluded.
AMA president Steve Hambleton welcomed the incentives and said the AMA and the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners were seeking advice on what equipment doctors would need to make best use of telehealth. The association had been told it would be possible for doctors to use a Skype connection initially but cameras that connect to a computer costing as little as a few hundred dollars would be sufficient for the purpose, he said.
While most GPs were computerised, not many specialists were and this could present a problem, Dr Hambleton said.
"This could be a nudge for our specialist colleagues to be able to communicate electronically with our GPs," he said.
It could also be beneficial for nursing homes that have difficulty getting doctors out to visit the home, he said.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Sue Dunlevy
Quelle/Source: National Affairs, 29.06.2011
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