From 1 July 2021, the broad range of telehealth telephone items for GPs and OMPs established in response to the COVID-19 have been removed, and a smaller number of MBS items have been introduced for:

• a short telephone consultation item (less than six minutes) for straightforward care, such as repeat prescriptions and diagnostic referrals; and
• a longer telephone consultation item (six minutes and over) for more complex attendances.  

MBS telephone consultations for a range of:

• mental health treatment services, including longer consultations, will be retained to ensure people experiencing barriers accessing video based services continue to receive timely and appropriate mental health care. Longer telephone items for mental health treatment will continue to be available until 31 December 2021, to ensure timely access to essential mental health services.
• other health service providers such as specialists, nurse practitioners and allied health providers are unchanged.

The GP video items will continue to mirror the Medicare items for face to face services.

Further information on ‘COVID-19 Temporary MBS Telehealth Services’ is available on MBSOnline or here.

GPs and OMPs working in general practice can only perform a telehealth service where they have an established clinical relationship with the patient, with limited exemptions. From 1 July 2021, additional exemptions to this requirement were introduced for patients accessing specific MBS items for pregnancy counselling and blood borne viruses, sexual or reproductive health. New items for blood borne viruses, sexual or reproductive health services have been created to support this activity. A separate fact sheet on these new items is available here.

Mainstream primary care and/or allied health service providers working across the Cape and Torres, Cairns, Townsville, and Mackay regions were invited to attend the workshops.

The aim of the workshops was to build capacity and support the mainstream primary care and allied health service providers to develop and deliver culturally appropriate services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in our region.

The positive feedback received has been overwhelming, with a Townsville participant noting that he learnt things about Indigenous people that they never knew before.

“The session was informative and interesting, and it has given me some ideas on how I can make positive changes to the way I deliver services,” said the participant.

“I will definitely recommend the workshop to my colleagues the next time it is offered”.

The workshop provided participants with:

• an understanding of cultural awareness and appreciation learnings
• an improved understanding of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples
• tools to engage effectively with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples
• opportunities for service providers to identify, develop, and implement culturally appropriate service delivery methodologies to improve Integrated Team Care (ITC) service delivery capacity and quality across the NQPHN region.

A Cairns participant said the workshop was overwhelming, powerful, and very educational.

“I’m sure everyone who attended was able to take something away from it,” she said.

“I found the workshop to be so beneficial that I’ll be reaching out to the facilitators to organise a similar training for the rest of my team”.

Each workshop was fully funded through the NQPHN ITC program and delivered by local Indigenous facilitators.

Additional workshops will be delivered across the region for those who missed out, although no dates have been confirmed yet. If you would like to be added to the waitlist for the Cairns, Townsville, or Mackay workshops please email itc@nqphn.com.au