Quick questions on Flying Doctor radio and telehealth: HSC Investigating Science Module 6

Before March 2020, Medicare-funded telehealth in Australia was rare, limited to specific rural and remote contexts. Over the next three months the federal government expanded Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) telehealth items to cover most general practice and many specialist consultations.

Modelling estimates over 50,000 deaths prevented since 1928 across the RFDS service area.

Rural and remote Australians still have higher all-cause mortality than urban populations, but the gap has narrowed substantially since the 1930s, attributed in part to the RFDS and to the telehealth services that grew from it.

RFDS-driven communication needs have shaped Australian satellite (Sky Muster), Telstra's regional infrastructure, and the NBN satellite portion.

Explain why the geography of Australia drove unusually early development of remote-medicine technology. [3 marks]

Telehealth use rose from 5 per cent to 30 per cent of consultations during the COVID-19 pandemic, then stabilised at 15 per cent. Discuss two factors that drove the rise, and two that drove the partial reversion. [4 marks]

A regional health service evaluates whether to fund a new telehealth specialist clinic in Broken Hill. (a) Identify one primary data source they could use. (b) Identify one secondary source.