Can you get a Mounjaro or Wegovy script online in Australia? The real-time consult rule, Medicare and red flags
Telehealth scripts are legal, but the Medical Board expects a real consult, by video or phone. Here is what that means, when Medicare pays, and the warning signs regulators name.
Written for Australia. Reading from India? India version
Yes, by telehealth. But the Medical Board does not support prescribing without a real-time consult, in person, by video or by phone. A questionnaire or an online chat alone doesn’t count. Medicare rebates a telehealth visit only with a doctor or practice you have an established relationship with.
Key takeaways
- The Medical Board says prescribing without a real-time consult, in person, by video or by phone, “is not good practice and is not supported”.1
- A health questionnaire alone doesn’t meet that standard, and Ahpra says the Boards don’t count an online chat as a real-time consultation.1,2
- Medicare rebates telehealth only if the doctor or practice saw you face to face in the past 12 months, or you are registered there through MyMedicare.3
- Ahpra has warned about services built to supply “a predetermined medicine”, often with a linked pharmacy, where prescribers may not weigh whether it is safe.4
- In July 2024 the TGA issued fines totalling $319,260 to 4 businesses, including telehealth clinics, and 3 individuals, over alleged unlawful advertising of prescription weight-loss medicines.5
On this page
Is it legal to get a GLP-1 script through telehealth?
Yes. Telehealth is a normal way to see a doctor, but the Medical Board expects a real-time consult before a doctor prescribes for someone new.1
The Medical Board of Australia’s telehealth guidelines took effect on 1 September 2023. They say prescribing without “a real-time direct consultation, whether in-person, via video or telephone, is not good practice and is not supported by the Board”.1
That covers “asynchronous requests for medication” by text, email, live chat or online form. It applies when a patient fills in a health questionnaire and the doctor “has never spoken with the patient”.1
A doctor who does it anyway “must be able to explain how the prescribing and the management of the patient was appropriate”.1 There is one carve-out. Your usual doctor, with access to your records, may sometimes prescribe without a new consult.1
What counts as a real-time consult?
A live conversation with the prescriber, in person, by video or by phone. Ahpra says the Boards don’t count an online chat as real time.1,2
Ahpra, the regulator for health practitioners, put it plainly in its virtual-care advice. “The Boards do not consider an online chat to be a synchronous (in real time) consultation.”2
A real consult for a weight medicine usually covers your health history, other medicines, pregnancy plans and past pancreatitis or gallbladder problems. Those are issues the labels flag.8,9 Our guide to whether a GLP-1 is worth considering lists the conditions that matter.
You can check any Australian doctor on Ahpra’s public register of practitioners.10 It shows their registration and any conditions on it.
Does Medicare pay for a telehealth weight consult?
Only with your eligible telehealth practitioner: a doctor or practice that saw you face to face in the past 12 months, or your MyMedicare practice.3
The rule comes from the MBS (Medicare Benefits Schedule) telehealth factsheet, last updated 23 October 2025. The doctor must have “provided at least one MBS subsidised face-to-face service to the patient in the 12 months” before. A visit arranged by the same practice also counts.3
From 1 November 2025 there is a second route. If you are registered with a practice through MyMedicare, you can get Medicare telehealth with that practice. The factsheet also lists a few exemptions to these rules.3
So a consult with an online service you have never visited usually has no Medicare rebate. You pay its fee in full. Our cost post explains the other costs.
Make a list of your history, medicines and questions for any doctor, in person or online. No sign-up.
What red flags do regulators name?
Services built to supply one set medicine, scripts without a live consult, eligibility quizzes, and claims that a medicine is “TGA approved” in advertising.4,5,11
One medicine, decided in advance. Ahpra warned in June 2024 about services “designed solely to provide customers with access to a predetermined medicine”. It said prescribers there “may not be turning their minds to whether the medicine being offered is a safe or appropriate option”.4 The medicines, it said, “are then typically provided directly by a pharmacist linked to the same business”.4
Advertising a prescription medicine. TGA guidance says telehealth services that present themselves as a way to get a specific prescription medicine “risk unlawfully promoting those medicines”.11 It also lists eligibility questionnaires, checklists and symptom checkers among things likely to be advertising.11
“TGA approved” claims. In July 2024 the TGA fined 4 businesses and 3 individuals a total of $319,260. It alleged they promoted prescription-only medicines, some for unapproved uses, and claimed some were “TGA approved”.5
High-volume prescribing. In September 2026 Ahpra said it may investigate practitioners with high prescribing rates “even if we have not received a complaint”.12
What can you do if a service seems wrong?
Report advertising that breaks TGA rules to the TGA, report a concern about a practitioner to Ahpra, and report side effects to the TGA.12,13
The TGA’s reporting page links to forms for side effects, suspected counterfeit medicines and “advertising that breaks the TGA rules”.13 Ahpra’s chief executive said in September 2026: “Anyone with concerns about a practitioner should alert us so that we can take appropriate action.”12
Watch for compounded or “research” products. Pharmacists may not compound GLP-1 medicines on or after 1 October 2024.7 Products labelled “research use only” are still regulated as medicines.6 See what the TGA found in “GLP-1” drops and patches.
Questions people ask
Can I get Mounjaro prescribed online in Australia?
Yes, after a real-time consult by video or phone. The Medical Board does not support scripts based only on a questionnaire.1
Is an online chat with a doctor enough?
No. Ahpra says the Boards don’t count an online chat as a real-time consultation.2
Will Medicare cover an online weight consult?
Only with your eligible telehealth practitioner: a doctor or practice that saw you face to face in the past 12 months, or your MyMedicare practice.3
How do I check an online doctor is registered?
Search their name on Ahpra’s public register of practitioners. It shows registration status and any conditions.10
Are compounded GLP-1s from online services legal?
No new ones. Pharmacists may not compound any GLP-1 medicine on or after 1 October 2024.7
How we researched this
We read every source on 12 October 2026. They include the Medical Board’s telehealth guidelines, two Ahpra pages, the MBS telehealth factsheet and the TGA’s advertising guidance and fines release.
We name no service. The TGA treats services that present themselves as a way to get a specific medicine as likely advertising. Linking to them could make our page part of it.
Before you move on
- Expect a live video, phone or in-person consult.
- Check the doctor on the Ahpra register.
- Be wary of a service built around one medicine.
- Ask whether Medicare rebates the consult.
- Report problems to the TGA or Ahpra.
More from the Australia blog
The monthly Australia update
An independent guide to GLP‑1 medicines. We don’t sell medicines, take drug-company money, earn commissions or link to any provider. Once a month: PBS decisions, TGA approvals and safety alerts. How we write
Sources
- Medical Board of Australia. Guidelines: telehealth consultations with patients (in effect from 1 September 2023). Link
- Ahpra. Information for practitioners who provide virtual care. Page reviewed 7 October 2025. Link
- Department of Health, Disability and Ageing (MBS Online). Medical practitioners: non-referred MBS telehealth services, factsheet. Last updated 23 October 2025. Link
- Ahpra and National Boards. Concerns raised over emerging models of care (joint statement). 3 June 2024. Link
- TGA. Telehealth businesses fined over $300,000 for alleged unlawful advertising of weight loss medicines. Media release, 12 July 2024. Link
- TGA. How we regulate therapeutic peptide products. Link
- TGA. Update on the GLP-1 RA pharmacy compounding changes. Media release, 18 June 2024. Link
- Novo Nordisk. Wegovy Australian Product Information. Date of revision 22 June 2026. Link
- Eli Lilly. Mounjaro Australian Product Information, version A14.0. Date of revision 2 October 2026. Link
- Ahpra. Register of practitioners (public register search). Link
- TGA. Complying with the restrictions on advertising prescription medicines to the public. Guidance, 18 June 2026. Link
- newsGP (RACGP). Ahpra launches new guidance in peptide prescribing. 16 September 2026. Link
- TGA. Reporting adverse events for consumers. Last updated 2 September 2026. Link
Last checked 12 Oct 2026 · Next review due 12 Apr 2027 · Report an error
How this post was made. Written by the GLP Guidebook team from the sources above. It’s general information, not medical advice. Talk to your GP, pharmacist or prescriber before starting, stopping or changing any medicine. We don’t sell, prescribe or recommend any brand or provider. How we write