What is a telehealth appointment? A plain guide for Australians

A telehealth appointment is a consultation with a doctor or other health professional that happens over video or phone instead of in a clinic room. You talk to the same kind of clinician you’d normally see — a GP, a psychologist, a specialist — you just do it from wherever you are.

Telehealth became part of everyday care in Australia during the COVID‑19 pandemic, and it stayed. Today the Australian Government describes telehealth as a permanent part of the health system, used for everything from routine GP consults to mental health support, specialist follow‑ups and prescriptions (Department of Health, Disability and Ageing).

In short: a telehealth appointment is a real medical consultation. The clinical care is the same — only the way you connect is different.

Video or phone — what’s the difference?

Telehealth covers two main formats:

• Video consultations — you and your clinician can see and hear each other. Video is closer to an in‑person visit: your doctor can see how you look, watch you move, or look at a rash or wound you hold up to the camera.
• Phone consultations — audio only. These suit quick check‑ins, results and simple follow‑ups where the clinician doesn’t need to see anything.

For many issues a clinician will prefer video, because seeing you adds important clinical information. Phone is a good fallback when video isn’t practical.

What telehealth is good for

Telehealth works well for a large share of everyday care, including:

• General practice consultations and follow‑ups
• Mental health support and psychology sessions
• Repeat prescriptions and medication reviews
• Reviewing test or scan results
• Specialist appointments and post‑procedure check‑ins
• Chronic disease management and care planning

It isn’t right for everything. Anything that needs a hands‑on physical examination, a procedure, or urgent in‑person care still needs a clinic or hospital. If something is an emergency, call 000.

What to expect in a telehealth appointment

A telehealth consult usually looks like this:

1. You book — through your usual clinic, the same way you’d book any appointment.
2. You connect — for a video consult, you’ll typically get a link (often by SMS) that opens the call in your phone or computer’s browser. Good telehealth tools don’t make you download an app or create an account.
3. You consult — you talk through your concern, the clinician assesses you, and you agree on a plan.
4. You get what you need — the clinician can send an electronic prescription to your pharmacy, issue a referral or medical certificate, or arrange tests, just as they would in person.

If you’re using MedCall, for example, your clinician texts you a secure link — you tap it, allow your camera and microphone, and you’re in the consult. There’s nothing to install. You can even check your device works beforehand.

Does telehealth cost anything?

That depends on whether your clinician bulk bills. When a service is bulk billed, the clinic bills Medicare directly and there’s nothing for you to pay. When it isn’t, you pay a fee and Medicare pays you back a rebate, leaving a “gap” (healthdirect). Telehealth is treated the same way as an in‑person visit here — it can be bulk billed, and many consults are. We cover this in detail in Is telehealth bulk billed?.

There are some eligibility rules for Medicare‑rebated telehealth — most notably, for GP telehealth you generally need an existing relationship with the practice (Services Australia). Your clinic will tell you if a telehealth consult is right for your situation.

Is telehealth private and secure?

It should be. A telehealth consult is a medical appointment and is covered by the same privacy expectations as any other — your clinician has the same obligations to protect your information. Purpose‑built telehealth software is designed around that: for instance, MedCall’s calls are encrypted, never recorded, and its data is hosted in Australia. General‑purpose video apps aren’t built for clinical use, which is why most clinics use dedicated telehealth tools.

The bottom line

A telehealth appointment is simply a consultation delivered by video or phone. For a huge range of everyday health needs it’s just as effective as visiting in person — and a lot more convenient. If you’ve been sent a link for a video consult and you’re not sure your device will work, you can test any phone or computer in about ten seconds first.