Movember update – $3,686 raised so far

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It\’s almost the end of the month, so we thought you\’d want to see a pic of our team\’s Moustache progress! Here are Drs Yashar, Connoley and Qi sporting their \’taches!

We are proud of the whole team for their activities (many preferred to Walk rather than grow facial hair!) and fundraising. There is still time to support Movember, who do great work for Men\’s mental health and suicide prevention, prostate and testicular cancer.

Here\’s the link to our team page:

https://au.movember.com/team/2299231

What is the Medicare Safety Net?

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When you spend over a certain amount in a calendar year (1 Jan to 31 Dec) you qualify for a larger Medicare rebate. The Safety Net can help to lower your out of pocket costs.
If you’re single, you’ll automatically receive the higher rebates once you reach the threshold. But if you’re part of a family, you need to register by downloading a form from Services Australia website, via the Medicare Express Plus app, or by calling the Medicare general enquiries line (132 011).

Video Consultations

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Video consults may not be suitable for every medical condition or every person, but they can be a useful service which the GPs are pleased to now offer. Face-to-face consults remain the gold standard and there will be a range of medical problems that your GP is unable to treat via video. Physical examinations may be required for the GP to establish a diagnosis, manage certain conditions and to prevent gaps in care. Patients are asked to respect their GP’s decisions regarding suitability of video consults for their condition, as GPs are not obliged to offer video telehealth consults.

Patients can now book video consults online for most GPs who consult at Blackburn Clinic sites. Using the AMS Connect app on your phone or tablet is easy if you have booked your video consult online:

  • You will receive an automated message 5 minutes prior to the Video Consult, containing a link to the internet method of joining the video consult (in case you don’t want to use the app). Please note that if you use a computer for the internet link, it will need to have a microphone & camera attached.
  • Or you can join the video consult by opening your AMS Connect mobile app and clicking on the AMS Video Appointments button. Then click ‘Join Conference’. Depending on your device, you may be prompted to allow access to your camera and microphone, in which case select “OK” or “Allow”.
  • If the doctor has connected, the video function will start immediately. If the doctor has not yet connected, a message will ask you to Wait. When the doctor connects the video consult will commence automatically.

All telehealth consults (phone and video consults) now require you to provide credit card details at the time of booking the appointment. However, normal billing practices remain in place. If your GP decides to bill your visit to Medicare then your credit card will not be charged. DVA patients will continue to be bulk-billed. Where the telehealth consult is privately billed, the payment will automatically be charged to your credit card once the GP specifies the charge. This process removes the inconvenience of you having to wait for an SMS with a payment link and then having to make an online payment.

Where you are eligible for a Medicare rebate, this will be submitted to Medicare for you, as is done for most face-to-face consults.