louisa Why do I need to be telehealth eligible?
During the pandemic, Medicare introduced rebates for GP appointments that were delivered via telehealth. Previously, rebates could only be accessed for in-clinic appointments. Towards the end of the pandemic, Medicare introduced some minimum criteria to ensure these funds were being used appropriately.
To qualify for Medicare telehealth rebates, a patient must have seen the doctor (that they wish to have a telehealth consult with) in person at least once within the 12 months prior. Then the patient must continue to meet this obligation by seeing that GP at least once every 12 months. If you haven’t met your doctor at Evercare in person yet, make an appointment to pop into the clinic and you’ll then be able to access telehealth rebates moving forward.
If you prefer an immediate telehealth appointment and you are a new member who isn’t telehealth eligible with Medicare, you can select to see a doctor via telehealth immediately and choose to pay the gap fee yourself. This is charged as the Medicare rebatable fee – for example, for a standard consultation, it would cost $41 (in addition to your monthly Evercare fee).
