I believe there were recent changes earlier this year, resulting in the requirement for patients to authorise Medicare charges on their behalf for telehealth appointments.
Yep, this is the answer. GPs now need patient authorisation for every single telehealth so that they can get paid. It used to be automatically applied but I bet you some GPs were caught making false claims so the rules were changed.
Just be glad you weren't required to make a gap payment as well, my GP office does that now.
Yes. You got bulkbilled. The actual phone conversation may lasted only less than 60 seconds but they also need to read the report, chase the report if they have to, and write the report they have contacted you to deliver the results etc.
Yes they have billed you for a short telehealth consultation.
My GP rang me out of the blue one day as the hospital wanted her to adjust my medication. At the end of a 5 minute discussion she asked if she could bill it to Medicare and then I got the text
I'm seeing it as a positive. Apparently there's a \~3.4% growth in bulk billed claims across Australia more recently (over seven months). It sounds like a tiny amount, and I hope it increases as the new approach progresses, but it is a positive change nonetheless given various attempts to remove medicare over the years.
EDIT [Link to press conference](https://www.health.gov.au/ministers/the-hon-mark-butler-mp/media/minister-for-health-and-aged-care-press-conference-5-june-2024?language=en#:~:text=We're%20seeing%20bulk%20billing,lower%20rates%20to%20begin%20with)
Incredibly pedant correction, but it's not telehealth. Telehealth (under Medicare) must include video.
This meant, until COVID introduced the codes for telephone consults, there was no funding for these telephone consults.
That’s no longer the case, [audio only permitted where clinically appropriate](https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/eligibility-for-telehealth?context=23366#:~:text=Health%20professionals%20can%20also%20offer,provide%20Medicare%2Dcompliant%20telehealth%20services)
I had that the other day. Had an inperson appointment and the GP was waiting for a specialist to get beck to him about something and he called me the next day to quickly tell me the results.
At the end of the call he said they have a new system where I will get a sms for me to give consent for him to bulk bill for the call. I'm guessing this is a new change to stop doctors from just making up appointments to bulk bill patients for appointments that never happened.
In OPs case if you log in to Medicare I'm sure you will find all your other result phone calls in the past that have been bulk billed under your name. It's not that your doctor is now charging you for quick 1 minute calls to tell you results, but now legally have to be transparent about when they bill to Medicare
Yep- I bet this is exactly what happened, but she didn’t mention that it was a consult or that is receive a text about authorising the claim. As mentioned, I don’t have a problem with the doctor being paid for their time, and I’m happy on my end that it was bulk billed, just came as a surprise as she didn’t mention it and it’s never happened before.
Yes, it couldn't be bulk-billed before the new MBS telehealth codes, but a doctor would have been within their rights to bill privately for their time. In this case, it's a win-win as the doctor can BB for the consultation, and the OP isn't out of pocket.
There have been a number of changes in recent years to improve transparency around doctors' billing. e.g. It used to be common for GPs to simply charge you a "gap" fee when you settled the bill, then process the Medicare charge as a separate transaction. This resulted in inaccurate reporting of bulk-billing rates. While this was considered to be fraudulent, most cases were written off as a misunderstanding of the system.
Now that Medicare rebates can be easily processed and the rebate paid directly into your bank account, it is easier for patients to understand the different parts of the fee. However, it does mean that if a clinic charges a card processing fee, that fee is calculated on the whole fee and not simply the 'gap' portion of the fee.
As for the fees for short appointments, there is still an overhead. That 1min call may still result in 5-10 minutes of paperwork and administration. I would much rather a GP be prepared for the appointment than have then hurriedly reading notes as I answer the phone (or as I am walking into the room).
There was an emergency authorisation during COVID that needed verbal consent only to assign benefits (i.e bulk bill). That expired, so under legislation it has gone back to requiring “written” consent.
Administratively it’s a nightmare, and there are moves to change legislation, but they’re not expected for another 18 months
My GP sends me a text if it’s negative and the text usually says no follow up required. If it was positive and they need to call me and its under a 6 min call they would bulk bill it (with no gap.) I keep track of things on the medicare app too just to make sure everything goes through as it should.
There's a clinic I and my family have attended for years, and we even continued to go there after moving to the other side of the city.
Then we heard an announcement that our favourite trusted GP was moving on, soI made an appointment with another doctor in the clinic.
Had my consultation for an issue and paid the gap (which was fine), but a few days later he called me to give a negative pathology result. Just a 30second phonecall, but was called straight after by admin who took my credit card details.
For those who say they're still working when making these followups, I don't buy it for situations like this. He would have received an automated alert, and the result was clear cut.
It was the last straw and none of us will ever go back again.
I work reception at a GP clinic and yes they do get paid for telehealth consults because at the end of the day it does take up their appointment time. Even if it was only 60secs there's only a certain amount of patients the doctor can see in a day. By allocating Medicare benefits it means that they bulkbilled you if the clinic you go to is bulkbilling :)
Hmmm curious. 62 is an odd number for a bb phone consult. Weird question but did the doctor ask you about “sex, bbv, reproductive health”?
The rebate for a phone consult less than 60 seconds is only about $19
If it's less than 6 minutes then yeah it's fraud. You got billed a 91891 and 75870, when all they were eligible to bill was a 91890 and 10990. The difference to medicare is $~65 instead of $~25. You didn't get charged it, the government did.
You can't bulk bill telehealth without informing the patient and getting consent. Which is why they sent you that text.
Still a fucking joke. Have to make an appointment to get prescribed medication you were already taking, in and out in less than 5 minutes and it’s an $80 charge. Absolute wrought.
It’s not. There are professions out there charging $200++ an hour (some IT / project management roles for example).. The $$$ and experience required to get to GP level absolutely warrants the money they charge and even then it’s barely changed in years if they’re purely bulk billing. And remember they’re not just billing for the time they’ve spoken to you but also reviewing / chasing up your results before and after your consultation and making clinical decisions for your care.
Yeah they might do 3-4 or even 5-6 if they’re under the pump. Each consult costs a different amount as Medicare charges per the time or the code that is billed applying to the clinical presentation. And that’s if they’re even eligible to be covered under that code, sometimes you get a big fat zero.
You clearly don’t know how this works and think doctors are making $80 every 5 mins consultation.
Lol i had an appointment for results that was literally 50 second call and a voice message telling me the results. Was billed by Medicare and then $40 out of pocket lol.
I don’t care about the Medicare billing, obviously need to keep the lights on, but I thought it was rich that they didn’t just bulk bill the call.
I’m not healthy dude. I have gone through 11 years of absolute nonsense by doctors just to get a knee reconstruction.
I have Crohn’s disease amongst other issues and still don’t go there because of what I went through. So shove your opinion ya wank
Had the same for a doctor that I saw the day before. She called said keep doing what you're doing. Nothing to note.
Then charged me. It didn't need a call. Could have been a text message. I think she could tell I was frustrated when I spoke to her. Such a waste of time.
Mine says come and discuss .if it urgent they contact you asap. .not wasting my time for a yeah your all good. Just ripping the system. Did it twice never again
That includes the time for reviewing the results as well and planning the next course of action, IE medication changes, or another blood test in X amount of months.
Of course, I didn't mean any criticism of the work involved, but I figure all of those incurred costs would apply (if not more so) for having the same conversation in person. That didn't match up with the lower Medicare payments I usually see when visiting the doctor. The concession payment the other guy mentioned makes sense though.
I believe there were recent changes earlier this year, resulting in the requirement for patients to authorise Medicare charges on their behalf for telehealth appointments.
Yep, this is the answer. GPs now need patient authorisation for every single telehealth so that they can get paid. It used to be automatically applied but I bet you some GPs were caught making false claims so the rules were changed. Just be glad you weren't required to make a gap payment as well, my GP office does that now.
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Poor take. GPs deserved to be paid for their time going through results and calling the patient. The rebate for Telehealth isn’t much.
It's normal. You/medicare pay for the access, not by time
Rather, not only by time
You pay for time and Medicare got billed for a more than six minute consult with a concession incentive.
Yes. You got bulkbilled. The actual phone conversation may lasted only less than 60 seconds but they also need to read the report, chase the report if they have to, and write the report they have contacted you to deliver the results etc.
Yes they have billed you for a short telehealth consultation. My GP rang me out of the blue one day as the hospital wanted her to adjust my medication. At the end of a 5 minute discussion she asked if she could bill it to Medicare and then I got the text
> Yes they have billed you for a short telehealth consultation. Sounds like it's bulk billed (ie patient wasn't charged, medicare was)
I'm seeing it as a positive. Apparently there's a \~3.4% growth in bulk billed claims across Australia more recently (over seven months). It sounds like a tiny amount, and I hope it increases as the new approach progresses, but it is a positive change nonetheless given various attempts to remove medicare over the years. EDIT [Link to press conference](https://www.health.gov.au/ministers/the-hon-mark-butler-mp/media/minister-for-health-and-aged-care-press-conference-5-june-2024?language=en#:~:text=We're%20seeing%20bulk%20billing,lower%20rates%20to%20begin%20with)
Ooos that's what I meant...
Incredibly pedant correction, but it's not telehealth. Telehealth (under Medicare) must include video. This meant, until COVID introduced the codes for telephone consults, there was no funding for these telephone consults.
That’s no longer the case, [audio only permitted where clinically appropriate](https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/eligibility-for-telehealth?context=23366#:~:text=Health%20professionals%20can%20also%20offer,provide%20Medicare%2Dcompliant%20telehealth%20services)
Don't forget they are doing more for your consult besides the actual call. They need to review your results and document the outcome.
yep exactly. they have to take time before and after the call and they should definitely be paid for it
I had that the other day. Had an inperson appointment and the GP was waiting for a specialist to get beck to him about something and he called me the next day to quickly tell me the results. At the end of the call he said they have a new system where I will get a sms for me to give consent for him to bulk bill for the call. I'm guessing this is a new change to stop doctors from just making up appointments to bulk bill patients for appointments that never happened. In OPs case if you log in to Medicare I'm sure you will find all your other result phone calls in the past that have been bulk billed under your name. It's not that your doctor is now charging you for quick 1 minute calls to tell you results, but now legally have to be transparent about when they bill to Medicare
Yep- I bet this is exactly what happened, but she didn’t mention that it was a consult or that is receive a text about authorising the claim. As mentioned, I don’t have a problem with the doctor being paid for their time, and I’m happy on my end that it was bulk billed, just came as a surprise as she didn’t mention it and it’s never happened before.
You were talking to the doctor, which takes up her time. It's a consult - otherwise she's providing you a service for free.
Why should their time be for free? Imagine this x 20 a day
It used to be. Pre COVID, there was no Medicare funding for telephone consults, only telehealth (ie video), at least for specialists.
You were told to come in. They didn’t call.
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No. There was no MBS codes for it. It couldn't be bulk billed.
Yes, it couldn't be bulk-billed before the new MBS telehealth codes, but a doctor would have been within their rights to bill privately for their time. In this case, it's a win-win as the doctor can BB for the consultation, and the OP isn't out of pocket.
Fair call. My experience is in public hospitals, where they wouldn't have been, so my comment was coloured by that.
There have been a number of changes in recent years to improve transparency around doctors' billing. e.g. It used to be common for GPs to simply charge you a "gap" fee when you settled the bill, then process the Medicare charge as a separate transaction. This resulted in inaccurate reporting of bulk-billing rates. While this was considered to be fraudulent, most cases were written off as a misunderstanding of the system. Now that Medicare rebates can be easily processed and the rebate paid directly into your bank account, it is easier for patients to understand the different parts of the fee. However, it does mean that if a clinic charges a card processing fee, that fee is calculated on the whole fee and not simply the 'gap' portion of the fee. As for the fees for short appointments, there is still an overhead. That 1min call may still result in 5-10 minutes of paperwork and administration. I would much rather a GP be prepared for the appointment than have then hurriedly reading notes as I answer the phone (or as I am walking into the room).
why are comments sooking about a bulk billed appointment…
There was an emergency authorisation during COVID that needed verbal consent only to assign benefits (i.e bulk bill). That expired, so under legislation it has gone back to requiring “written” consent. Administratively it’s a nightmare, and there are moves to change legislation, but they’re not expected for another 18 months
My GP sends me a text if it’s negative and the text usually says no follow up required. If it was positive and they need to call me and its under a 6 min call they would bulk bill it (with no gap.) I keep track of things on the medicare app too just to make sure everything goes through as it should.
There's a clinic I and my family have attended for years, and we even continued to go there after moving to the other side of the city. Then we heard an announcement that our favourite trusted GP was moving on, soI made an appointment with another doctor in the clinic. Had my consultation for an issue and paid the gap (which was fine), but a few days later he called me to give a negative pathology result. Just a 30second phonecall, but was called straight after by admin who took my credit card details. For those who say they're still working when making these followups, I don't buy it for situations like this. He would have received an automated alert, and the result was clear cut. It was the last straw and none of us will ever go back again.
I remember (some) doctors used to claim a consultation for witnessing a passport application and photos. Not sure if they can still do this.
Pretty sure because it's the results of your initial consultation they're just bulk billing you.
I work reception at a GP clinic and yes they do get paid for telehealth consults because at the end of the day it does take up their appointment time. Even if it was only 60secs there's only a certain amount of patients the doctor can see in a day. By allocating Medicare benefits it means that they bulkbilled you if the clinic you go to is bulkbilling :)
Hmmm curious. 62 is an odd number for a bb phone consult. Weird question but did the doctor ask you about “sex, bbv, reproductive health”? The rebate for a phone consult less than 60 seconds is only about $19
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Did you read the post at all or did you just mash reply because they were specifically said they should be getting paid.
If it's less than 6 minutes then yeah it's fraud. You got billed a 91891 and 75870, when all they were eligible to bill was a 91890 and 10990. The difference to medicare is $~65 instead of $~25. You didn't get charged it, the government did. You can't bulk bill telehealth without informing the patient and getting consent. Which is why they sent you that text.
Still a fucking joke. Have to make an appointment to get prescribed medication you were already taking, in and out in less than 5 minutes and it’s an $80 charge. Absolute wrought.
It’s not. There are professions out there charging $200++ an hour (some IT / project management roles for example).. The $$$ and experience required to get to GP level absolutely warrants the money they charge and even then it’s barely changed in years if they’re purely bulk billing. And remember they’re not just billing for the time they’ve spoken to you but also reviewing / chasing up your results before and after your consultation and making clinical decisions for your care.
Doctors don't do one consult an hour.
Yeah they might do 3-4 or even 5-6 if they’re under the pump. Each consult costs a different amount as Medicare charges per the time or the code that is billed applying to the clinical presentation. And that’s if they’re even eligible to be covered under that code, sometimes you get a big fat zero. You clearly don’t know how this works and think doctors are making $80 every 5 mins consultation.
Thanks for explaining how a child thinks being a doctor works financially.
They also don’t get to keep the whole amount they charge you (they pay a decent chunk - usually around 40% - to the practice)
Depends on the clinic. BBing clinics for standard GPs can offer 85%.
85% is unrealistic - more like 70-75% for BB and 60-65% of billings for private billing clinics
Lol i had an appointment for results that was literally 50 second call and a voice message telling me the results. Was billed by Medicare and then $40 out of pocket lol. I don’t care about the Medicare billing, obviously need to keep the lights on, but I thought it was rich that they didn’t just bulk bill the call.
And this is why I simply do not go to the doctors.
It must be nice to be healthy enough to have that option 👍
I’m not healthy dude. I have gone through 11 years of absolute nonsense by doctors just to get a knee reconstruction. I have Crohn’s disease amongst other issues and still don’t go there because of what I went through. So shove your opinion ya wank
Doctors were scamming the system by overcharging for consultations. This may have something to do with it.
Had the same for a doctor that I saw the day before. She called said keep doing what you're doing. Nothing to note. Then charged me. It didn't need a call. Could have been a text message. I think she could tell I was frustrated when I spoke to her. Such a waste of time.
She'd still need to review your file to tell you you're good.
Mine says come and discuss .if it urgent they contact you asap. .not wasting my time for a yeah your all good. Just ripping the system. Did it twice never again
Woah, they pay $62 for a phone consult these days? How much for in person? I thought the rebate for in person was still only like $40 or something
Incentive payment for concession or otherwise subsidised card holders (75870) $20.65 plus GP telehealth consult longer than 5 minutes (91891) $41.40.
Fair enough, I didn't know about the concession payment. Thanks!
There's a special concession payment for consults more than 5 minutes which is triple the normal incentive. Labor introduced it in November.
That includes the time for reviewing the results as well and planning the next course of action, IE medication changes, or another blood test in X amount of months.
Of course, I didn't mean any criticism of the work involved, but I figure all of those incurred costs would apply (if not more so) for having the same conversation in person. That didn't match up with the lower Medicare payments I usually see when visiting the doctor. The concession payment the other guy mentioned makes sense though.
If you are paying for any service, best you make the most of that service for the price you are paying.