Telehealth prescribing under scrutiny

Australia’s telehealth boom is running into a basic problem: the same phone call that makes a refill easier can also make a risky prescription easier. In 2023–24, 23.6% of Australians had at least one telehealth consultation, and regulators now say some online prescribing models are moving faster than the guardrails around them. (abs.gov.au) (ahpra.gov.au) The pressure point in Australia is two drug categories that are already tightly controlled: stimulant medicines for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and high-tetrahydrocannabinol medicinal cannabis. Both sit in the country’s Schedule 8 category, which is reserved for drugs that can be useful but also carry risks of misuse, dependence, or harm. (ahpra.gov.au) (aadpa.com.au) On the attention deficit hyperactivity disorder side, prescribing has climbed fast because diagnosis has climbed fast and access has been patchy. Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported that the number of Australians prescribed attention deficit hyperactivity disorder medication rose almost 300% in a decade to 470,000 people in 2022–23, while about one million Australians are now estimated to have the condition. (abc.net.au) That growth has collided with a system that still makes many patients wait months and pay hundreds of dollars for specialist care. The same Australian Broadcasting Corporation report described a 90-minute psychiatric assessment costing A$530 with a Medicare rebate of A$237.45, while some clinics were charging about A$2,000 and others quoted A$3,000 for faster access. (abc.net.au) Governments are responding by trying to make legitimate continuity of care easier, not harder. Victoria said on February 4, 2026 that its Virtual Emergency Department would offer urgent one-off attention deficit hyperactivity disorder refills for patients with an existing diagnosis, with online consultations able to generate prescriptions covering at least 30 days and up to six months at the clinician’s discretion. (premier.vic.gov.au) At the same time, doctors’ groups are pushing for looser but more consistent rules so ordinary general practitioners can manage straightforward cases instead of forcing every patient through a bottleneck. In September 2025, Australia’s health ministers backed national harmonisation of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder diagnosis and prescribing rules, with professional groups calling for aligned rules by June 30, 2026. (racgp.org.au) The medicinal cannabis side looks different because the regulator is not mainly talking about long waits. The Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency says most medicinal cannabis products prescribed in Australia are unapproved products, and it says some businesses have used aggressive advertising, single-drug business models, and online questionnaires that coach patients to say “the right thing” to justify a script. (ahpra.gov.au) By July 2025, the regulator had moved from warnings to enforcement. Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported that the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency had taken action against 57 practitioners over medicinal cannabis prescribing, was investigating about 60 more, and had found a handful of prescribers issuing more than 10,000 scripts in six months, including one who wrote more than 17,000. (abc.net.au) The telehealth argument is not that remote care is bad. The regulator’s October 7, 2025 update says telehealth can improve access, but prescribing should follow a real consultation by phone, video, or in person, not a text form or a checkbox questionnaire, and practitioners remain personally responsible even when they work for telehealth-only clinics. (ahpra.gov.au) (medicalboard.gov.au) That is why this fight is messy instead of simple. Australia is trying to solve two problems at once — people with genuine attention deficit hyperactivity disorder who need faster repeat access, and online clinics that can turn controlled drugs into a high-volume consumer product — and telehealth sits in the middle of both. (premier.vic.gov.au) (ahpra.gov.au) (racgp.org.au)