The AMA welcomes today’s commitment from Labor that, if
elected, it would invest heavily in telemedicine to support and enhance health
services as a part of a modern health system.
AMA President, Dr Andrew Pesce, said the investment would
assist doctors to better use communications technology to provide services to
patients who would otherwise have limited or no access to these services.
“This is a recognition of the need to embrace communications
technology to modernise our health system,” Dr Pesce said.
“It will allow doctors to overcome the tyranny of distance
when providing care and advice for patients in rural and remote Australia. Some patients will no longer have to travel
long hours and incur significant costs to access medical care.
“Ongoing support for telemedicine services, through Medicare
patient rebates and support for IT infrastructure and training, will ensure
that local doctors can obtain specialist input for the ongoing care and
management of their patients.
“The capacity to download test results and high quality
diagnostic images quickly will enhance the care that local doctors can provide
via telemedicine networks, including the use of high quality video for
doctor-patient consultations and videoconferencing.
“As the take-up and reach of telemedicine technology and
services grow, so too must the investment to ensure that the telemedicine
networks stay modern and new technologies are introduced as they become
available.
“There would need to be close consultation with the AMA and
the medical profession, especially rural doctors, to ensure that these
initiatives provide the maximum benefit to patients and communities. The AMA would also like to see a
corresponding commitment to attracting and retaining doctors in rural and
remote communities to complement these important measures.”
