Greencare Review

Bottom Line:

Greencare is a premium telehealth provider best for patients looking for a thourough personalised approach, alternative doctors, and wellness experts.

Greencare Australia, also known as Greencare Clinics, is an alternative telehealth provider offering doctor consults, health plans, and sessions with wellness experts, including breathwork, coaching, and yoga. In terms of pricing and alternative approach, it is somewhat comparable to Healthy Life, which also has a weight loss and naturopathy section. However, its prices are significantly higher, and it does not offer after-hours availability. Greencare presents as a bespoke telehealth service, compared to more budget-friendly and mainstream yet high-quality services such as Hola Health.

Pros and Cons

Mixed Recent Reviews and High Prices, but a Wide Range of Alternative Options and Personalised Approach. 

Pros:

1. Wide range of alternative services and wellness experts. More varied than most providers.

2. Thorough approach requires a complete health report from a regular GP before consults and intake with a nurse.

3. Some doctors and customer support staff are highly rated in user reviews.

Cons: 

1. Some service prices are high compared to other premium providers, such as Healthy Life. 

2. Customer service has received mixed reviews, especially in the last year, and is often unavailable or unable to help.

3. Technical issues include problems receiving doctors’ calls and prescribed products being unavailable at pharmacies.

Available Services

Specialising in “Alternative Health”

Greencare Clinics focuses on alternative health and wellness services. Based on its site and Google reviews [2], its main business is treating and prescribing a range of products for complex health issues, such as medical cannabis for anxiety and hair loss treatment. It also has a broad range of wellness experts and coaches on board, for example, swim coach Michael Klim for performance coaching and well-known yoga personalities for breathwork. 

It also offers medical certificates and referrals.

Unlike more mainstream telehealth providers like Healthy Life, the focus is on alternative health first, mainstream health second.  

While Greencare does not offer bulk billing, patients can inquire about compassionate or hardship assistance, making its premium services more accessible. 

The process is slower but more thorough than with most other providers. It normally works like this:

• You send your full health report from your regular doctor.
• Free nurse practitioner consult for intake.
• Doctor consult to work out a health plan (the site does not specify whether these are AHPRA-registered doctors or GPs but shows select GPs’ bios).
• Free one-month follow-up with nurse.
• Further paid follow-ups with a practitioner.

Here is a list of the services offered: 

• Alternative Health
• Weight Management
• Hair Loss
• Men’s Health
• Women’s Health
• Wellness Experts
• Doctors’ Consults

On request and if doctor available:

• Medical Certificates
• Prescriptions
• Referrals

Scripts are sent to partner pharmacies in your state that deliver to you.

Pricing and Speeds

Greencare’s Premium Pricing and Wait Times Reflect Thorough Approach 

Greencare Clinics advertises transparent pricing and three types of prices on its pricing page: Free NP intake, $149 new patient consult and $99 for follow-up consults.  

This puts it at double to triple the cost of other premium telehealth providers, such as Healthy Life, but does include additional extras such as the intake and follow-ups with nurses. 

The wellness experts’ pricing goes up to $1560 - reflecting a service and access to expertise not available with other telehealth providers in Australia. 

However, the website’s standard pricing is lacking transparency. It is advertised differently on its Instagram page [2], FAQ page, pricing page, and service pages. Here, Instagram and FAQs offer new patients a standard $99 consultation and $49 for concession cardholders.  

Service pages offer all general consults from medical weight management to hair loss and men’s and women’s health at $59 for new and existing patients.  

In practice, this means that if you can get the discounted price of $59 or $49, you’d be paying premium prices, such as at Prime Medic, and would be receiving the additional nurse support calls. 

Wait times at Greencare are undefined. The service mentions same-day appointments but no specific wait time and no business hours.  Based on users reviews, I believe you can expect delays between booking, NP consult and doctor consult.  

Owing to its thorough approach, the service requires a health report from your regular doctor and a nurse intake consult first, so you should expect to set time aside for the full process. 

Here's the pricing at a glance:

• Initial consult costs $149 (as per main page, and some customers may get discounts).
• Follow-up costs $99.
• NP intake call is free.
• Hair loss management, women’s health, men’s health, medical weight management $59 as per specific page.

Note: As pricing varies significantly from page to page, please do check the costs of follow-ups before booking, as most services have an advertised follow-up price at double or triple the rate of the initial consult.

No bulk billing available. The website does mention compassionate and hardship access to their services but does not clarify this further.

User Experience

Sleek Website, Mixed Information, Complex Process

• Layout and navigation of the Greencare site is a breeze at first glance. However, once you start clicking from page to page, there are inconsistencies, including Wellness experts Laura and Mat Kinnear being listed as NPs on one of the other pages, prices for some services, including wellness coaching, not being available before starting the booking process, and information on certain services being very limited. For example, alternative health does not have a description of the service. 
• The process is thorough but slow, as it requires the signing up, booking, and paying on the website before your doctor consult, plus two additional steps: an intake call with an NP and requesting a health report from your current doctor. User reviews [2] show that this can sometimes make it hard to have a timely and conclusive initial doctor consult – if you are in a rush. This means patients sometimes require a follow-up (charged at double the rate), once their health report is available. 
• The actual consults receive mixed reviews, mainly for three reasons: technical requirements that can be hard to follow and may result in missing the doctor consult or the doctor not being able to connect with their patients, mixed reviews on the available doctors -  some receive consistent one-star reviews and others positive feedback -, and prescribed products not being available at the partner pharmacies, resulting in additional consults, further approval needed and delays in treatment. Customers also complain about the available product range, which they state is less varied than at competitors.  

Overall, the user experience is highly mixed, largely owing to technical problems, a lack of transparency and varied customer experiences. 

Privacy and Data Security

Solid Privacy Policy, But AI Use and International Data Transfer

Greencare’s privacy policy is transparent, clearly communicated and solid. It complies with the Australian Privacy Act.

The privacy policy is comprehensive, similar to that of other premium telehealth providers like Healthy Life, but less extensive and more clearly communicated for patients to understand.

The policy clearly states all systems used to collect, store and transmit patients’ personal data and gives clear instructions on how to opt out of certain aspects.

Two parts stand out to me:

• The use of artificial intelligence (AI), which I have not come across on other telehealth sites I have vetted to date. This may reflect that Greencare uses multiple systems to facilitate communication and marketing. However, it is possible for patients to opt out by calling or emailing.
• International data transfer is specifically mentioned. This is normally eschewed by other telehealth providers or couched in more obtrusive language. If you are concerned about your data making its way outside of the bounds of the Australian Privacy Act’s powers Greencare may not be the right provider for you.

Customer Support

Greencare Clinics’ Customer Service Can Be Hard to Reach

Greencare is one of the few telehealth providers offering booking over the phone. However, it does not provide its customer service hours on its website. External sources [3] list it as Monday to Friday from 9 am to 5 pm. You can call, email, or text the team. Reviews [1],  show that some customers struggle to reach customer service during standard business hours. Also, multiple customers state that the customer service team can take up to a day to reach consulting doctors, and up to three weeks to action refunds.

Overall, the reviews show 4.7 stars (out of about 700 reviews) but not all are verified. Recently, there are more one-star reviews, including by long-term loyal customers. The recent issues seem to centre around the bedside manner of some of the consulting doctors as well as the prescribing of unavailable products, requiring a new consult and waiting to be cleared for approval for a different medication.

Premium Service, Thorough Approach But Inconsistent in Follow-Through 

If you are looking for an alternative provider with a more personal and potentially proactive approach, consider Greencare. You'll pay premium rates for a longer-term alternative provider with a preventative approach and expertise in chronic condition management as well as access to celebrity wellness experts.

When thinking about using Greencare Clinics, you should verify the exact pricing for consults for your specific needs, including follow-ups. 

All information on this page is independently researched and verified. We have made every effort to provide the most accurate and up-to-date information in this review. However, please ensure you check the most current pricing and service information before booking. 

Telehealth is recommended in addition to primary care and cannot provide the same accuracy as in-person physical assessments by your GP. Consult your primary healthcare provider for comprehensive and personalised medical advice.

[1] https://www.facebook.com/groups/legalizenature/posts/24016806918014925/
[2] https://share.google/xKn8DRGpHGB0GQByd
[3] https://www.instagram.com/greencare.clinics/?hl=en
[4] https://healthengine.com.au/medical-centre/nsw/sydney/greencare-medical-clinics/s85308