Welcome to the Remote and Primary Care section
Practical guidance for running virtual care in clinics, health services and communities.
What this is: a short guide to the Remote and Primary Care section and how it is organised.
Who it's for: clinic managers, nurse managers, Aboriginal Health Workers and Practitioners, general practitioners, allied health staff, and the executives planning a virtual care service.
What you'll find here
This section helps you set up, run and fund virtual care in a remote or primary care setting. That includes rural and remote clinics, community health services, outreach programs, and Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations (ACCHOs).
We have written it for a busy clinic. The articles are short, practical and built to use on a shift, not to read at a conference.
How the section is organised
The section is grouped into seven areas:
- Getting started. Why virtual care matters, how it works, whether your service is ready, and how to plan a rollout.
- Setup and equipment. Your virtual care equipment, your space, connectivity, cleaning, and troubleshooting.
- Clinical workflows. Running a consultation, clinical handover, chronic disease monitoring, specialist access, and supporting visiting clinicians.
- Communications and consent. Consent, patient and community information, interpreters, and community engagement.
- Policies, procedures and compliance. Your policy template, privacy and data sovereignty, standards, governance, and scope of practice.
- Funding and billing. What you can bill through Medicare, the rules that apply, and funding beyond Medicare.
- Training and proof. Training your team, signing off competency, and showing your funder the results.
A few principles that run through everything
- Virtual care backs up local care. It does not replace it. The aim is to bring a clinician to where the patient is, support your local team, and fill the gaps, not to remove face-to-face care.
- Cultural safety runs through every article, not a single section. Only the patient, their family and their community can say whether care is culturally safe. We have written for teams that include Aboriginal Health Workers, Health Practitioners and community members, not only registered clinicians.
- Community control and patient choice come first. In community-controlled settings, the community decides how care is delivered. Virtual care is offered by choice and with consent.
Where to start
If you are new to virtual care, read these four articles in order:
- Why virtual care in remote and primary health
- How virtual care works
- Is your service ready? A readiness audit
- Your first steps: planning a rollout
Need help?
- Visionflex support: visionflex.com/support | support@visionflex.com | +61 2 8914 4000 (9am to 5pm AEST)
- See also: Why virtual care in remote and primary health; How virtual care works; Is your service ready?
Visionflex acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and pays respect to Elders past, present and emerging.