Grampians Medicare Local Telehealth Information Manual

payments and services and may also be used with Human Services; or disclosedto other parties or agencies, where you have provided consent or it is required orauthorized by law.Note: due to privacy reasons, the Medicare card number and provider number must not beincluded in the email.Step Three:Once the specialist has received reply email from the patient and the correct information isprovided, they must: Complete a Bulk Bill (assignment of benefit) form noting ‘email agreement’ in thesignature block. This is only for manually lodged claims. Submit the claim to Human Services in accordance with the Medicare Benefit Schedule(MBS)Send a completed copy of the Bulk Bill (assignment of benefit) form to the patient, andKeep the emails containing the patient’s consent and email signature (in hard copy orelectronic form) for audit purposes for at least two years.For electronically lodged claims, the email signature does not need to be noted, but you mustkeep the patient’s email consent on file.Note: when you note ‘email agreement’ on the manual Bulk Bill (assignment of benefit)form, you are acknowledging you have followed the steps above.This process has been developed to comply with Section 10 of the Electronic Transactions Act1999 which outlines the steps to be taken for an electronic signature to be recognised. It alsomeets the legislative requirement of a signature being needed to assign a Medicare benefit.Example of an email from a specialist to a patient for an email agreement for bulk billingfor a telehealth video consultation.Dear Mr Jones (Patient)Details of telehealth consultation to be claimed with MedicareItem number: 104 Benefit amount: $71.35Item number: 99 Benefit amount: $35.00Date and time of consultation: 01/01/2012 10:30amPatient name: Peter JonesProvider name: Jane SmithAgreementIf you (the patient) agree to the assignment of the Medicare benefit directly to the specialist (bulkbill), reply to this email including:the word ‘YES” in the body of the reply emailyour (the patient’s) name.Regards,Dr Jane Smith

Privacy note: Your personal information is protected by law, including the Privacy Act 1988,and is collected for a Social Security, Family Assistance, Medicare, Child Support and CRSpurpose, depending on the service or payment concerned. This information may be required bylaw or collected voluntarily when you apply for services or payments. Your information is usedfor the assessment and administration of payments and services and may also be used withHuman Services; or disclosed to other parties or agencies, where you have provided consent orit is required or authorized by law.Minimum distance requirementFrom the 1st November 2012, the MBS telehealth items will require that the patient andremote specialist be at least 15kms apart. This minimum distance requirement does not apply toresidents of RACFs or patients of an Aboriginal Medical Service.

FREQUENTLY ASKEDQUESTIONS:How do I claim for Telehealth Consultations and when will the incentives bepaid to me or my practice?You claim the item number, depending on the time of the consultation as you wouldnormally for a physical consultation.If this is your first Telehealth consultation, once you claim the item number, a system isactivated under your provider number; the first on-board incentive will be paid to you, 14days after the medicare claim as been registered.Then as you complete 9 more telehealth consultations, you will be paid the reminder ofthe on-board payment into the bank account nominated for the payment of item numberclaims.Every quarter you will receive a bulk amount for all of the telehealth service incentive andthe telehealth bulk bill incentive (if you’ve bulk billed your patient).This PIP payment will be paid into the Practice’s bank account and disseminated asappropriate by your practice.It is important to note the “on-board” incentive payment is only per GP not providernumber, so if you have multiple provider numbers for different practices/health services,you will only receive 1 on-board payment.If a GP and a Practice Nurse or Aboriginal Health Worker are in the roomwith the patient at the time of the Telehealth consultation, can they bothclaim through Medicare?Only the GP can claim or the Practice Nurse/Aboriginal Health Worker, not both.This is because the Practice Nurse/Aboriginal Health Worker claim under the GP providernumber.For more information, please see the Department of Human Service Medicare Programwebsite or call the following:PIP – 1800 222 032MBS – 132 150