These are the kinds of marginalised patients who will be helped by hard-fought new telehealth Medicare rebates, allowing for longer telephone consultations with specialists, medical oncologist Christopher Steer says.
The new Medicare items for longer, more complex consultations over the phone come into effect across Australia on November 1, adding to existing rebates for video telehealth appointments and short phone consults.
Associate Professor Steer, from Border Medical Oncology at the Albury-Wodonga Regional Cancer Centre in southern NSW, said it was common to hear from isolated patients who could not readily access either face-to-face care or video appointments.
"It's the people with the most to lose who are the ones that will benefit from this change, " Dr Steer told AAP.
"They're often the ones who have the most difficulty accessing video or the most difficulty at getting to their appointments.
"But a phone is something almost everyone universally has."
Telehealth items have been available under the Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) since 2002 and were vastly expanded during the COVID-19 pandemic.
There has been some caution about further broadening various telehealth items, amid the expansion of private online-only GP services providing medical certificates, prescriptions and referrals.
A 2024 report by the MBS review advisory committee said face-to-face appointments were still the preferred mode of care, but telehealth had improved access for patients in certain circumstances.
"For some patients, such as those who are house-bound, a telehealth consultation can mean the difference between accessing health care or not," the report said.
Royal Australasian College of Physicians president, Professor Jennifer Martin, said the changes would benefit people in regional, rural and remote areas, who generally experienced higher rates of complex and chronic diseases.
The burden of disease is 1.4 times greater in remote areas than in the cities, according to data from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.
"People who've struggled with long travel times, technology barriers or mobility challenges will feel relief, knowing their specialist telephone consultations for complex care will be more accessible than before," Dr Martin said.
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