Virtual care is a broad term. It includes telehealth (telephone and video-enabled) and remote monitoring. It supports self management, and can be provided in different settings and locations.
Virtual care connects consumers, families, and carers with clinicians and other people who care for them. It supports multidisciplinary care, specialist consultations between clinicians, professional development and peer support.
Virtual care can be provided in real time, such as a telehealth consultation or as asynchronous care, where a patient records a health parameter to be reviewed as part of care. This allows practitioners to check the physiological parameters and experiences of different patients remotely and escalate to virtual assessment or face-to-face review where indicated.
Virtual care can be delivered across different settings and care journeys across the care continuum. Patients may have part of their care journey provided virtually alongside more traditional face to face services.
Since COVID-19 virtual care has been rapidly adopted by Victorian health care providers across the care continuum. Consumers and health care providers across Victoria have benefited from the increased flexibility and service choice made possible through virtual care.
Virtual care can help to remove some barriers currently experienced by health consumers and professionals, such as distance, time and cost.
Department of Health Telehealth Video Consulting Platform
Healthdirect Video Call is the preferred platform for virtual/telehealth care consulting for Victorian publicly funded Health Services (hospitals, community health services, maternal health services etc.). It provides a secure, reliable service that uses common smart devices (e.g., mobile phone, tablets, or computer) and is designed to complement clinical workflows that are familiar to providers and patients.
For health services who do not have access to the platform please contact .
Information about the platform functionality is available at the Healthdirect Video Call Resource .
Resources
The following resources for health services and other interested stakeholders aim to support the implementation of virtual care into services:
- Victorian Virtual Care Strategy
- Virtual Care Operational Framework
- Digital health standards and guidelines
- Safer Care Victoria (2020) Telehealth Decision
- Safer Care Victoria (2020) Credentialing and scope of clinical practice for senior medical practitioners
- Allied Health and telehealth guidance, Safer Care
Reporting and funding
Most activity in acute Victorian health services for admitted and non-admitted services delivered by virtual care is funded through existing funding models. The activity needs to be reported accurately to the Department of Health to ensure it is counted. Information can be accessed from the following sources:
- Victorian Department of Health - Policy and funding guidelines for health services
- MBS billing policy framework – Victorian public hospitals
Medicare Benefits Schedule telehealth/telephone items
There are a range of Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) items available for telehealth video and telephone consultations for specialists, GPs, mental health practitioners, midwives, allied health providers and nurse practitioners. These items numbers are available to all MBS eligible patients regardless of their location.
For more information, see MBS Online MBS Telehealth on the Australian Government's Department of Health website.
Reviewed 20 September 2024