Medicare slow to cotton on to IT revolution

Beverley Head
Tuesday, 23 February 2010 16:19

Business IT - Technology

The continued lack of a Medicare claim number for videoconference based medical consultations is holding back the deployment of technology that could help rural and regional health authorities tackle ballooning skills shortages.

David Ryan, executive officer of the Grampians Rural Health Alliance (GRHA) which has deployed a videoconferencing application in its hospitals says State and Territory health department CIOs are all keenly aware of the problem and that a meeting earlier this month raised the issue again.

GRHA' s videoconference based system - called Clever Health - has after four years achieved a full return on the $7.6 million investment involved. But that has to some extent relied on the goodwill of medical practitioners who have been willing to use the system in spite of there not being a Medicare claim facility for video consults.

As Ryan explained; 'If you are a non salaried doctor in the hospital,' then there is no way to claim back from Medicare the costs associated with the time taken for the consultation. Ryan said despite this problem, medical practitioners in his region had given their time willingly.

Nevertheless the lack of a Medicare number for video-consults was; 'Far and away the biggest impediment in moving the technology out of the hospital's four walls.'

He added that; 'Everyone wants it addressed and the Department of Health and Ageing is aware of it. It is a major area of interest for all states and territories with remote operations. The biggest thing to drive this is the lack of skills in remote and regional areas. There are few technical impediments - but there are some political ones.'

Health minister Nicola Roxon has yet to respond to iTWire's enquiry about a Government response to the problem.