Private practice metropolitan telepsychiatry in smaller Australian jurisdictions during the COVID-19 pandemic

preliminary analysis of the introduction of new Medicare Benefits Schedule items

Looi, Jeffrey CL
Allison, Stephen
Bastiampillai, Tarun
Pring, William

Academic Unit of Psychiatry and Addiction Medicine, Australian National University Medical School, Canberra Hospital, ACT, Australia
Private Psychiatry, ACT, Australia
College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University, Adelaide, SA, Australia
College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University, Adelaide, SA, Australia
Department of Psychiatry, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
Monash University, and Centre for Mental Health Education and Research at Delmont Private Hospital, Australia
Private Psychiatry, VIC, Australia

Jeffrey Looi, Academic Unit of Psychiatry and Addiction Medicine, Australian National University Medical School, Building 4, Level 2, Canberra Hospital, PO Box 11, Garran, ACT 2605, Australia. Email: [email protected]

Australasian Psychiatry 28(6):p 639-643, December 2020. | DOI: 10.1177/1039856220960381

Objective:

To analyse the smaller Australian state/territory service impact of the introduction of new COVID-19 psychiatrist video and telephone telehealth Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) items.

Method:

MBS item service data were extracted for COVID-19 psychiatrist video and telephone telehealth item numbers corresponding to the pre-existing in-person consultations for the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), Northern Territory (NT), South Australia (SA) and Tasmania.

Results:

The overall rate of consultations (face-to-face and telehealth) increased during March and April 2020, compared to the monthly face-to-face consultation average, excepting Tasmania. Compared to an annual monthly average of in-person consultations for July 2018–June 2019, total telepsychiatry consultations were higher for April than May. For total video and telephone telehealth consultations combined, video consultations were lower in April and higher in May. As a percentage of combined telehealth and in-person consultations, telehealth was greater for April and lower for May compared to the monthly face-to-face consultation average.

Conclusions:

In the smaller states/territories, the private practice workforce rapidly adopted COVID-19 MBS telehealth items, with the majority of psychiatric consultation shifting to telehealth initially, and then returning to face-to-face. With a second wave of COVID-19 in Australia, telehealth is likely to remain a vital part of the national mental health strategy.