Healthcare funding model jeopardises telehealth

Beverley Head
Tuesday, 24 May 2011 17:47

IT Policy - Government Tech Policy

Healthcare funding models which effectively penalise doctors for keeping patients out of hospital are acting as a brake on widespread adoption of teleheath services.

David Ryan, executive officer of the Grampians Rural Health Alliance (GRHA), has warned that although the introduction of a Medicare claim number for video-consults from July this year will unleash demand for videoconferencing from GPs and private specialists, hospital based doctors who are paid by the States will have no incentives to adopt other telehealth services.

GRHA has already deployed a $7.6 million videoconferencing network connecting hospitals and medical centres in 40 towns in the Grampians region. That network is currently racking up 4,500 hours of videoconferences a year - a figure Mr Ryan believes could leap to 6,000 thanks in part to the advent of the Medicare rebate.

However he told iTWire that the State based activity based funding model used by hospitals means that doctors are rewarded for the number of people in their waiting rooms or in hospital beds, rather than the number of people who could be kept out of the hospital system by being treated in their own homes using telehealth applications such as remote monitoring.

'Victoria has the leading model for activity based funding. It's been tweaked for 15-20 years and we've still not got it right,' said Mr Ryan.

'We need to remove the incumbency for face to face consultations. You need to have doctors rewarded for keeping people out of hospital rather than seeing it as a disincentive.'

If the funding models can be got right there will be huge demand for telehealth services throughout regional and rural Australia according to Mr Ryan.

And for the Grampians region's telehealth aspirations the National Broadband Network can't come soon enough. At present the Grampians Telehealth Service is available to health practitioners covering a population of 250,000 people spread across 50,000 square kilometres. The network is currently built on Telstra's network.

Will the PCEHR make a difference? read on