1. Telehealth in Practice:
a panel discussion
April 2013

2. Our panel - Bunbury
Specialist
– Associate Professor Rob Will
General Practitioner
– Dr Mike Civil
Nursing & Midwifery Telehealth Consortia
– Ms Lesley Pugh
Practice Manager
– Ms Debbie McConnell

7. Not every consultation will be suitable for a video consultation and it is
important to ensure that a number of key areas are considered, when
planning this extension to normal general practice services.
The Standards for General Practices offering Video Consultation aims to
cover the important areas and to give practices a framework that will
enable video consultations to be carried out in a safe and professional
manner.
Areas such as:
• Patient safety
• Suitability for video Consultation over Face to Face
• Confidentiality
• Privacy
• Training and education

8. Areas (continued) such as:
• Providing Clinical Support, responsibilities
• Issues surrounding consent (for all three parties)
• Informing patients about the service that you are
offering to patients (Video Consultations)
• Seeking feedback from patients
• Importance of building validity to the value of video
consultations.
• Managing risk
• Concept of “Dual Care Consultation”
• Issues around coordination of care
• Referral letters and their place with video
consultations
• Communication with patients, making sure they are
fully informed of issues pertaining to video
consultations
• Verifying the identity of all parties in the video
consultation process

10. • Staff training
• End-to-end quality assurance
• End-to-end security requirements
• End-to-end privacy requirements
• Internet connectivity
• The National Broadband Network
• Upload and download data speed
• Network and video quality
• Video consultation technology solutions
• Types of video consultation technologies – an entry-level guide
• Hardware video quality
• Audio quality
• Interoperability
• Issues to consider when selecting technologies
• Practice environment and equipment
• Audio devices for computer video consultation solutions
• Video devices for computer video consultation solutions

11. RACGP Telehealth Resources (continued)
• Video Consultation Booking Checklist
• Video Etiquette for Clinicians
• Video Consultation Information for Patients
• Video Consultation Patient Survey

12. • 1441 MBS Video consultation item numbers in the 2011 to 2012 Financial Year (first
year of item No:)
• 357 of these done at Stirk Medical Group
• Patient feedback on 233 of these consultations
• Specialists
• 2 x Rheumatologists
• Endocrinologist
• Sleep Physician

13. Strongly
Disagree
Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly agree Void
I received the
same
standards of
care from my
video
consultation as
I would have
from a face to
face
consultation
2.14% 1.28% 5.15% 59.65% 30.9% 0.88%
The video
consultation
was convenient
for me (saved
time money
etc)
2.14% 2.14% 7.29% 46.78% 39.48% 2.17%
I felt prepared
for the video
consultation
3.86% 4.29% 22.74% 43.77% 24.46% 0.88%
I would be
willing to
participate in
another video
consultation if
my doctor
considered it
appropriate
3.4% 1.27% 2.12% 57.02% 36.17% 0.02%
.

14. Telehealth useful resources:
Resources
MBS Online - Medicare Benefits Schedule (www.mbsonline.gov.au/telehealth)
MBS Online – “Connecting health services with the future: Guidance on security and
privacy issues for clinicians” (www.mbsonline.gov.au/telehealth)
Medical Board of Australia “Good Medical Practice: A Code of Conduct for Doctors
in Australia” (http://www.medicalboard.gov.au/Codes-Guidelines-Policies.aspx)
Medical Board of Australia Guidelines: Technology-based patient consultations
(http://www.medicalboard.gov.au/Codes-Guidelines-Policies.aspx)
RACGP Computer and information security standards (4th edition)
(www.racgp.org.au/ehealth)
RACGP Standards, Guidelines, Templates and Facts Sheets for Telehealth in General Practice
(www.racgp.org.au/telehealth)
RANZCP Professional Practice Standards and Guidelines for Telepsychiatry
at www.ranzcp.org/Resources/Telehealth-in-psychiatry.aspx

15. Telehealth in Practice
• What do you use telehealth for?
• Examples of when it has worked well
• Benefits
• For patients
• For clinicians

16. Telehealth in Practice
• Choosing to offer video consultations
over face-to-face
• Business viability
• Financial incentives
• MBS items
• Issues to consider

17. Telehealth in Practice
• Barriers to uptake
• Lessons learnt
• What do patients think of telehealth?

18. Telehealth in Practice
• How to get started?
• Internet connection
• Web cam
• Link to specialists
• Provider directory www.ehealth.acrrm.org.au

19. ACRRM Telehealth Provider Directory

20. Questions???

21. Telehealth in Practice
• Take home message

22. Telehealth Resources
Websites
Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine
www.ehealth.acrrm.org.au
Royal Australian College of General Practitioners
www.racgp.org.au/your-practice/e-health/telehealth
Rural Health West
www.ruralhealthwest.com.au/workforce-
support/telehealth