From 1 November 2024, the Department of Health and Aged Care in Australia will introduce new Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) item numbers for the admission and subsequent consultation of inpatients in private hospitals by video. 

These items, which are being introduced following College advocacy about the need to support the private hospital psychiatry workforce, will be temporarily instated (for two years initially) with provision for review to ensure they are working effectively. 

The intention of this suite of items is to provide for one telehealth consultation on admission, and one subsequent telehealth consultation per week of admission, with the remaining consultations to be provided face to face using existing in-hospital subsequent consultation items. 

Further details and a factsheet will be available from 1 November on the Services Australia website. 

A total of six items will be available on the MBS for inpatient telehealth psychiatry including item 92483 (available for new patient telehealth consultations in hospital of more than 45 minutes), and items 92478 to 92482 (time tiered items for inpatient telehealth consultations for existing patients).

Psychiatrists using these items should be guided by the RANZCP Professional Practice Guideline: Telehealth in Psychiatry. 

For queries, please contact policy@ranzcp.org.