Medicare to clamp down on telehealth claims by nurse practitioners

Doctors and the MBS Review said nurse practitioners should not be exempt from the 'existing relationship' rules.
Leanne Boase. Photo: Australian Nursing & Midwifery Federation (Victoria)

The Federal Government is finally planning to enforce Medicare’s ‘existing relationship’ telehealth rule for nurse practitioners, but not until November.

The rule means that a doctor, or a colleague at the same practice, must have seen a patient face to face within the past 12 months to bill Medicare’s telehealth items.