Question: How to get distant health care during the  COVID-19 pandemic

Answer passage (source: Australia):
page_title: Accessing health services during coronavirus (COVID-19) restrictions
section_headers: Remotely (telehealth)
section_content: Any Australian with a Medicare card can now access telehealth services via
phone or videoconference.
This service helps protect both patients and health workers from unnecessary
risk of infection. It is available from doctors, nurses, midwives, or allied
and mental health professionals.
This is a temporary measure until 30 September 2020.
You don’t need any special equipment, and can either use your phone or a
computer. You and your provider will decide the best system to use for your
needs.
Providers will bulk-bill consultations for:

Commonwealth concession card holders
children under 16 years
patients who are vulnerable to COVID-19

For telehealth, vulnerable patients are those who are:

isolating at home on the advice of a medical practitioner or a COVID-19 hotline
aged over 70
an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander person aged over 50
immunocompromised or have a chronic health condition
a parent of a new baby
pregnant
meets the current national triage protocol criteria for suspected COVID-19 infection

Otherwise, you can pay by credit card at the time of your consultation.
To make a telehealth appointment, just call your health care provider. Your
provider might also offer any of your existing appointments as a telehealth
appointment.
If you need to make an appointment on behalf of someone else, get information
about their condition before calling. This will ensure you can provide
important details to your provider.
Read more about telehealth services in the consumer fact sheet at MBS
online.
During your telehealth consultation your doctor might need to give you a
prescription. Read more about how you can get medicines, including delivery to your home.

Reviewer feedback on this answer:
The answer gives a good summary of telehealth programs.
This is an excellent question because it thoroughly describes how a patient can use telehealth to get distant medical care. Therefore, it fully satisfied the question.

Reviewer ratings:
Excellent
Excellent

Answer passage (source: Australia):
page_title: Accessing health services during coronavirus (COVID-19) restrictions
section_headers: What options are available for accessing services?
section_content: If you are struggling to breathe or seriously unwell, and it is an emergency
call 000 immediately. Tell ambulance staff about recent travel and
any potential contact with someone with COVID-19.
Whether for COVID-19 or another health reason, the way you access health care
during the shutdown depends on your circumstances.
You might see your health care provider:

in person, by going to their facility
in person, at your home
remotely, via telehealth

You should keep your regular health care appointments, including home care,
and medical or pathology appointments for chronic conditions. You might be able to arrange a telehealth
appointment for some things.
We are opening GP respiratory clinics around the country to assess people with fever, cough, a sore throat,
or shortness of breath.
healthdirect Coronavirus (COVID-19) Symptom Checker
Answer questions about your symptoms to see if you need to seek medical help
or get tested. This tool is available online at any time.

Reviewer feedback on this answer:
The answer mentions distant care but does not specifically answer the question.
This answer needs improvement because it does not provide enough information to fully answer the question. This answer does mention the usage of telehealth distance care for patients, but doesn’t describe exactly how patients can use this service to get distant healthcare.

Reviewer ratings:
Could be Improved
Could be Improved

Answer passage (source: Australia):
page_title: Providing health care remotely during COVID-19
section_headers: How to provide prescriptions and prescription medication via telehealth
section_content: We are working with clinical software providers to upgrade prescribing and
dispensing software so it supports electronic prescribing. We expect this to be available from May
2020.
For now, at a telehealth consultation, a prescriber can prescribe medication
by writing a paper prescription and providing it to the patient (for example,
by post). If this is not practical, a prescriber can instead turn the
prescription into an ‘image-based prescription’. This is a digital image of
the paper prescription, which can then be sent by the prescriber to the
patient’s preferred pharmacy.
The Commonwealth has changed legislation to temporarily allow prescribers to
create a digital image of the patient’s prescription to support supply of
their medicines. This interim arrangement supports telehealth before
electronic prescribing becomes available.
See our guide on how to write a prescription for your patient during a
telehealth consultation.
Pharmacists can dispense medications and make Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme
(PBS) claims from the digital image of the prescription sent through by the
prescriber.
Under the temporary arrangement, patients do not need to sign to acknowledge
receipt of supply if it is not practical for them to do so. The pharmacist may
sign on behalf of the patient, unless it is not practical for them to do so.
If the prescriber has authorised repeats, the pharmacist may create a repeat
authorisation and attach it to a print out of the digital image of the
prescription. This must be held in the pharmacy for subsequent supply of the
medication.
See our guide for pharmacists on how to dispense an image-based prescription
sent from a prescriber.
For image-based prescriptions, prescribers must keep the paper prescription
for 2 years (for audit and compliance purposes). Pharmacists must keep the
digital image of the prescription for 2 years.
Medicines in Schedule 8 and Schedule 4 Appendix D in the Poisons Standard are
not part of this interim arrangement, unless specifically permitted by
relevant state or territory rules. Supply these medicines according to your
state and territory legislation.
While the vast majority of health care providers do the right thing, please
report any fraudulent and inappropriate practice against Medicare and the
PBS.

Reviewer feedback on this answer:
The answer is specifically about getting prescriptions during distance care, not the distance care itself.
This answer is bad because it is giving advice to pharmacists on how to fill prescriptions during the pandemic, but does not refer to patients and how they can receive distance care from their doctors. Therefore, it fails to answer the question.

Reviewer ratings:
Could be Improved
Bad