ArticleJournal of medical Internet research2023
Use of General Practitioner Telehealth Services During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Regional Victoria, Australia: Retrospective Analysis.
Article in Journal of medical Internet research, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Comparison of Telephone and Video Telehealth Consultations: Systematic Review.Journal of medical Internet research · 2023Pooled it
- Exploratory Analysis of the Digital Health Gender Paradox in Consumer-Facing Digital Health Technology Adoption: Cross-Sectional Survey Study.JMIR human factors · 2026Article
- Governing AI for Pharmacovigilance in Low-Income Countries: Systems Perspective.Journal of medical Internet research · 2026Article
- Qualitative exploration of consumers' experiences and perceptions of telehealth for allied health services in Australia.BMJ open · 2025Article
- Do Rurality-Based Financial Incentives Improve Equity of Primary Healthcare Access? Evidence From Australia.Health economics · 2025Article
- Pandemic Disruptions to Private Pathology Testing Uptake in Australia, 2019-2024.Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- An observational study of socioeconomic disparities in psychiatry consultation uptake in Australia, using routinely collected national data from 2015 to 2022.The International journal of social psychiatry · 2025Observational
- Cardiovascular presentations during the COVID-19 pandemic: an interrupted time series analysis.Journal of public health (Oxford, England) · 2025Article
- Impact of Internet Hospital Consultations on Outpatient Visits and Expenses: Quasi-Experimental Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2024Article
- Comparing the trends of MBS telepsychiatry and consultant physician telehealth services from 2017 to 2022: A retrospective study.Australasian psychiatry : bulletin of Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists · 2024Article
- Tailoring communication practices to support effective delivery of telehealth in general practice.BMC primary care · 2024Article
- Use of Video in Telephone Triage in Out-of-Hours Primary Care: Register-Based Study.JMIR medical informatics · 2024Article
- Digital Health Reimbursement Strategies of 8 European Countries and Israel: Scoping Review and Policy Mapping.JMIR mHealth and uHealth · 2023Article
- Article
- Socioeconomic Factors Associated With the Use of Telehealth in Primary Care Services During the COVID-19 Pandemic.Journal of primary care & community healthArticle
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
11 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundIn March 2020, the Australian Government expanded general practitioner (GP) telehealth services in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
objectiveThis study sought to assess use patterns of GP telehealth services in response to changing circumstances (before and during the COVID-19 pandemic and with or without a lockdown) in regional Victoria, Australia.
methodsWe conducted a secondary analysis of monthly Medicare claims data from July 2019 to June 2021 from 140 regional GP practices in Western Victoria. The longitudinal patterns of proportion of GP telehealth consultations stratified by type of consultation (ie, videoconference vs telephone) and by geographical, consumer, and consultation characteristics were analyzed.
resultsTelehealth comprised 25.8% (522,932/2,025,615) of GP consultations over the 2-year period. After the introduction of the Australian telehealth expansion policy in March 2020, there was a rapid uptake in GP telehealth services (including telephone and video services), from 0% before COVID-19 to 15% (11,854/80,922) of all consultations in March 2020, peaking at 55% (50,828/92,139) in August 2020. Thereafter, the use of telehealth declined steadily to 31% (23,941/77,344) in January 2021 and tapered off to 28% (29,263/103,798) in June 2021. Telephone services and shorter consultations were the most dominant form, and those aged 15-64 years had higher telehealth use rates than younger or older age groups. The proportion of video consultations was higher during periods with government-imposed lockdowns and higher in the most socioeconomically advantaged areas compared to less socioeconomically advantaged areas.
conclusionsOur findings support the continuation of telehealth use in rural and regional Australia post pandemic. Future policy must identify mechanisms to reduce existing equity gaps in video consultations and consider patient- and system-level implications of the dominant use of short telephone consultations.
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