Home > Patient Information > Telehealth
Your practitioner offers both telephone and video consultations.
Please note that there is an out of pocket expense for all telehealth consultations.
In most cases, face-to-face consultations are preferred, but in some situations telehealth consults are necessary, and are appropriate.
In some cases a telehealth consultation may be started and the clinician judges that to safely proceed with managing the issue, a face-to-face consultation is necessary. This is often the case for conditions that are new, require a physical examination, or carry a higher level of risk. In this situation there may be a private fee for both consultations.
The Medicare rules associated with telehealth consultations are regularly changing.
Provided you have attended the practice for a face-to-face consultation within the last twelve months, or have seen one of the doctors at a different location within the last twelve months, you will receive a Medicare rebate. If you have not seen one of the doctors face-to-face within the last twelve months, you will be out of pocket the full consultation fee and receive no rebate from Medicare.
There are some exceptions to this, for example, receiving care while isolating for COVID-19, being under 12 months of age, experiencing homelessness, needing mental health support or requiring pregnancy counselling the 12 month rule does not apply.
As from the 1st of July 2022, there will be no Medicare rebate AT ALL for long or extended TELEPHONE consultations, unless you are having this consultation with your usual Practitioner as indicated when registering with MyMedicare. To learn more about MyMedicare, click here. If you are requiring a long or extended consultation and cannot do this face to face, a VIDEO consultation must be booked. Provided you meet the above 12 month requirement, you will receive a Medicare rebate for these VIDEO consultations.
If you book online for either a telephone or a video consultation for your doctor, you will be asked to securely provide your credit card details for payment to be taken after your consultation. If administration staff book an appointment for you by telephone, you will be contacted after your appointment to arrange payment.
After payment is made for medical consultations Medicare will then deposit their rebate into your nominated bank account.
The cost of the consultation and the rebate will depend on the length of time you spend with your doctor.
The fees for telehealth and in-person consultations are located here.