Abstract
Objective:The Australian Commonwealth Government introduced new psychiatrist Medicare-Benefits-Schedule (MBS)-telehealth items in the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic to assist with previously office-based psychiatric practice. We investigate private psychiatrists’ uptake of (1) video- and telephone-telehealth consultations for Quarter-2 (April–June) of 2020 and (2) total telehealth and face-to-face consultations in Quarter-2, 2020 in comparison to Quarter-2, 2019 for Australia.Methods:MBS item service data were extracted for COVID-19-psychiatrist-video- and telephone-telehealth item numbers and compared with a baseline of the Quarter-2, 2019 (April–June 2019) of face-to-face consultations for the whole of Australia.Results:Combined telehealth and face-to-face psychiatry consultations rose during the first wave of the pandemic in Quarter-2, 2020 by 14% compared to Quarter-2, 2019 and telehealth was approximately half of this total. Face-to-face consultations in 2020 comprised only 56% of the comparative Quarter-2, 2019 consultations. Most telehealth provision was by telephone for short consultations of ⩽15–30 min. Video consultations comprised 38% of the total telehealth provision (for new patient assessments and longer consultations).Conclusions:There has been a flexible, rapid response to patient demand by private psychiatrists using the new COVID-19-MBS-telehealth items for Quarter-2, 2020, and in the context of decreased face-to-face consultations, ongoing telehealth is essential.
Highlights
For Quarter-2, 2020, the total combined use of telehealth and face-to-face consultations increased by 14% above the total of pre-COVID-19 Quarter-2, 2019 face-to-face consultations, reflecting a substantial increased demand for and provision of overall private psychiatry services (Table 1 and Figure 1)
COVID-19-psychiatrist-telehealth usage needs to be interpreted with caution due to variations in private practice across Australia
There has been a rapid, flexible and significant uptake of new COVID-19-psychiatrist-MBS-telehealth items, during Quarter-2, 2020 of the pandemic, representing an overall 14% increase in the level of service provided compared to previous office-based consultations for Quarter-2, 2019
Summary
MBS item service data were extracted from the Services Australia Medicare Item Reports (http://medicarestatistics. humanservices.gov.au/statistics/mbs_item.jsp) for practice office-based face-to-face (in-person) consultations (289, 291, 293, 296, 300, 302, 304, 306, 308, 342, 344, 346, 348, 350, 352). Service data were extracted for psychiatrist video (92434, 92435, 92436, 92437, 91827, 91828, 91829, 91830, 91831, 92455, 92456, 92457, 92458, 92459, 92460) and telephone (92474, 92475, 92476, 92477, 91837, 91838, 91839, 91840, 91841, 92495, 92496, 92497, 92498, 92499, 92500) telehealth item numbers corresponding to the pre-existing in-person consultations. Psychiatrist MBS item service data for Quarter-2 (April– June) 2020 in Microsoft Excel format were downloaded from Services Australia and transferred to a purposebuilt Excel database and analysed using Excel (Microsoft Office Home and Student 2019; Microsoft Corporation, Seattle, Washington, USA). We calculated the percentages for combined (video and telephone) telehealth as a proportion of Quarter-2, 2019 face-to-face consultations and the sum total of video- and telephone-telehealth and in-person consultations for Quarter-2, 2020. The sum total of video- and telephone-telehealth and face-to-face consultations for Quarter-2, 2020 was calculated as a percentage of Quarter-2, 2019 face-to-face consultations
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