The Telehealth Eligibility questions are a series of questions that screen patients for their medicare rebate and bulk billing suitability. HotDoc also has the ability to write the answers of these questions back to your appointment book when the patient makes a booking.

How does Telehealth Screening work?

HotDoc Telehealth will allow your practice to use Online Bookings to create a Telehealth appointment that is entered into your book. Alongside this, you can control who is able to book this type of appointment.

• If both Telehealth Mode and Patient Screening is enabled, a patient going through the online booking process can be effectively screened by answering some questions. The questions are based upon the criteria required to claim a Telehealth appointment through medicare.
  
  
• If they qualify based upon their answers, they are then directed to book an applicable bulk billed or rebated Telehealth appointment.
  
  
• If they do not qualify based upon their answers, they are then directed to book an alternative appointment type or contact the practice via phone.
  

To turn on these screening questions, see How to create or edit a Telehealth consult.

Medicare Rebate Eligibility

1. If the Medicare Rebate Eligibility questions are turned on for the appointment type, the patient will be asked the following question upon selecting the appointment time:
   
   
   
   
2. After selecting I will answer truthfully, they will be asked the following questions:
   
   

   Does the patient needing this appointment have a Medicare card? Is the person needing this appointment currently living under COVID-19 isolation or quarantine orders, or residing in a Commonwealth-declared COVID-19 hotspot? Is this consultation in regards to pregnancy counselling services or for sexual or reproductive health or bone borne viruses? Has the patient attended an in-person consult at your practice in the past 12 months? Are they less than 12 months old or experiencing homelessness?

   
   
3. If the patient answers no to any of the above questions, we will then suggest they attempt to make another appointment type or contact the clinic to discuss further:
   
   
   
   
4. If patient selects yes to question number 1 and any of the other screening questions, they will be asked to verify their contact number and email address. If the pre-populated information is not correct, they can update it in these fields:
   
   
5. After confirming their details, they will be asked to verify their appointment information one last time:
   
   
   
   
6. After selecting Yes, book now, if the patient is successful in making the booking, they will see the following in their Appointments section:
   
   
   
   
7. Once confirmed we will write the contact details of the patient as well as a summary of their answers to the questions into your appointment book:
   
   

Bulk Billed Eligibility

1. If the Bulk Billed Eligibility questions are turned on for the appointment type, the patient will be asked the following question upon selecting the appointment time:
   
   
2. After selecting I will answer truthfully, they will be asked the following questions:
   
   

   Does the patient needing this appointment have a Medicare card? Is the person needing this appointment currently living under COVID-19 isolation or quarantine orders, or residing in a Commonwealth-declared COVID-19 hotspot? Are you under the age of 16 or a Commonwealth concession card holder (Pensioner, Health Care or Seniors Health Card)?  Is this consultation in regards to pregnancy counselling services or for sexual or reproductive health or blood borne viruses? Has the patient attended an in-person consult at your practice in the past 12 months? Are they less than 12 months old or experiencing homelessness?

    
3. If the patient answers no to any of the above questions, we will then suggest they attempt to make another appointment type or contact the clinic to discuss further:
   
   
   
4. If patient selects Yes to question number 1 and 3 any of the other above screening questions, they will be asked to verify their contact number and email address. If the pre-populated information is not correct, they can update it in these fields:
   
   
   
   
5. After confirming their details, they will be asked to verify their appointment information one last time:
   
   
   
   
6. After selecting Yes, book now, if the patient is successful in making the booking, they will see the following in their Appointments section:
   
   
   
   
7. Once confirmed we will write the contact details of the patient as well as a summary of their answers to the questions into your appointment book:
   
   

All Patients (No Screening)

If you prefer, you can also choose for your Telehealth appointments to have no screening. To do so, select All Patients (No Screening).

• This will allow a patient to make a Telehealth booking without any screening questions.
  
  
• This setting is recommended if you wish to privately bill Telehealth appointments.