Telehealth has bolted away as fast as the colt from old Regret as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. The federal Health Minister, Greg Hunt, says he wants telehealth to continue post pandemic, but for that to happen, the industry will need to offer more than just ‘courage in our quick impatient tread’, as the ode goes.
We will need to understand and support the government’s need to break in the colt, saddle and hold it on a tight rein, because the sustainability of Medicare depends on it.
How to do that? Well, the Man from Snowy River, though a wonderful story, can’t tame Medicare, but a basic rule of data can: collect data used to care for the patient at the point of care, not as a separate fiscal claim. In this way, administrative overheads are reduced and real data from the patient’s care are used as the evidence for claiming.
