An online telehealth service suspected to be a scam is linked to failed national GP chain Tristar Medical Group, which collapsed earlier this year owing millions of dollars to doctors and the government.
Patients say they paid $80 to Dr ASAP and never received an appointmentover a website called Dr ASAP, which advertises private telehealth services for an out-of-pocket cost of $80.The website states it is a fully private service: "There is no Medicare or other government subsidy rebate".
Patient records indicate some GPs may have exaggerated consultation times to claim higher Medicare rebates and that they billed for some services without adequate patient documentation. On some days, it allegedly worked out to be 5.8 minutes per patient, despite MBS item numbers showing varying times for consults, between 10 to 20 minutes, up to an hour per patient.
"If any person has information that a registered medical practitioner is acting dishonestly by charging for a health service they have not provided, they could report that matter to Ahpra," a spokesperson said. "They didn't have a proper financial system, there was no real way to know how the money was being spent," he said.An email provided to the ABC showed the former employee tipped off the federal health department about Tristar's possible fraudulent activity back in 2018.
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