Increased Australian outpatient private practice psychiatric care during the COVID-19 pandemic: usage of new MBS-telehealth item and face-to-face psychiatrist office-based services in Quarter 3, 2020.
Australas Psychiatry
; 29(2): 194-199, 2021 04.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1099852
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE:
The Australian federal government introduced new COVID-19 psychiatrist Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) telehealth items to assist with providing private specialist care. We investigate private psychiatrists' uptake of video and telephone telehealth, as well as total (telehealth and face-to-face) consultations for Quarter 3 (July-September), 2020. We compare these to the same quarter in 2019.METHOD:
MBS-item service data were extracted for COVID-19-psychiatrist video and telephone telehealth item numbers and compared with Quarter 3 (July-September), 2019, of face-to-face consultations for the whole of Australia.RESULTS:
The number of psychiatry consultations (telehealth and face-to-face) rose during the first wave of the pandemic in Quarter 3, 2020, by 14% compared to Quarter 3, 2019, with telehealth 43% of this total. Face-to-face consultations in Quarter 3, 2020 were only 64% of the comparative number of Quarter 3, 2019 consultations. Most telehealth involved short telephone consultations of ⩽15-30 min. Video consultations comprised 42% of total telehealth provision these were for new patient assessments and longer consultations. These figures represent increased face-to-face consultation compared to Quarter 2, 2020, with substantial maintenance of telehealth consultations.CONCLUSIONS:
Private psychiatrists continued using the new COVID-19 MBS telehealth items for Quarter 3, 2020 to increase the number of patient care contacts in the context of decreased face-to-face consultations compared to 2019, but increased face-to-face consultations compared to Quarter 2, 2020.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Private Practice
/
Psychiatry
/
Practice Patterns, Physicians'
/
Telemedicine
/
COVID-19
/
Mental Disorders
/
Mental Health Services
Type of study:
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
Limits:
Humans
Country/Region as subject:
Oceania
Language:
English
Journal:
Australas Psychiatry
Journal subject:
Psychiatry
Year:
2021
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
1039856221992634
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