Telehealth and coronavirus: Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) activity in Australia

In March 2020, additional telehealth item numbers were added to the Australian Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) to encourage physical distancing, for those accessing medical, nursing and allied health services during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The University of Queensland’s Centre for Online Health (COH) has analysed the MBS service data and summarised telehealth uptake throughout Australia. 

Key statistics for 2024

2024 data presented by clinical group

Recent publications on this topic by COH

• Telehealth for global emergencies: Implications for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)
• Telehealth uptake in general practice as a result of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic
• Building on the momentum: Sustaining telehealth beyond COVID-19
• Telemedicine in Long-Term Care Facilities During and Beyond COVID-19: Challenges Caused by the Digital Divide
• The Role of Telehealth in Reducing the Mental Health Burden from COVID-19
• Making the most of telehealth in COVID-19 responses, and beyond
• Future-proofing cardiac rehabilitation: Transitioning services to telehealth during COVID-19
• Paying for Telemedicine After the Pandemic
• Specialist consultation activity and costs in Australia: Before and after the introduction of COVID-19 telehealth funding
• Costs to the Medicare Benefits Schedule for general practitioner consultations: A time-series analysis
• The impact of telehealth policy changes on general practitioner consultation activity in Australia: a time-series analysis
• Increase in telemental health services on the Medicare Benefits Schedule after the start of the coronavirus pandemic: data from 2019 to 2021
• How have temporary Medicare telehealth item numbers impacted the use of dietetics services in primary care settings?
• Telehealth sustainability after COVID-19 – can you see me by video?
• Medicare reimbursed telehealth exercise physiology services were underutilised through the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic: an ecological study

Suggested citation for this webpage: Snoswell, C.L., Caffery, L.J., Taylor, M.L., Mendis, R., Haydon, H.M., Thomas, E., Smith, A.C. Centre for Online Health, The University of Queensland. Telehealth and coronavirus: Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) activity in Australia. https://coh.centre.uq.edu.au/telehealth-and-coronavirus-medicare-benefits-schedule-mbs-activity-australia. Published April 16, 2024. Accessed_______.

Permission to use the MBS activity images presented here: Permission can be sought via enquiries@coh.uq.edu.au. Please provide the intended purpose for use (commercial, non-commercial, educational) and audience.

If you would like further details about the information behind these graphs please read this PDF document.

All data was sourced from the Medicare Item Reports website published by the Australian Government (http://medicarestatistics.humanservices.gov.au/statistics/mbs_item.jsp), you will find further information about the data reporting and disclaimers on this website.

Last updated: 11 February 2025