Greencare Review

Bottom Line:

Expect high prices and above-average waiting times for alternative doctors, complimentary nurses, and wellness experts at this telehealth provider. Greencare is best for celebrity expert needs.

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:

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.

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

Cons: 

1. Prices are very high, even 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.

Specialising in “Alternative Health”

Greencare Clinics focuses on alternative health and wellness. Based on its site and Google reviews [2], its main business is prescribing a range of products to manage health conditions, such as medical cannabis for anxiety and hair loss treatment. It 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 mentions more mainstream services, such as medical certificates and referrals, on its site. However, unlike more mainstream telehealth providers like Healthy Life, the focus is on alternative health first, with mainstream health second.

While Greencare does not offer bulk billing, patients can inquire about compassionate or hardship assistance.

The process 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 all AHPRA-registered doctors or all GPs and instead shows select GPs’ bios).
• Free one-month follow-up with “nurse”. The site is not specific about what is included or whether this is with an NP.
• Further paid follow-ups with a “practitioner”. The site does not specify whether this is a doctor or NP.

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.

Greencare’s Pricing Far Higher than Competitors and Lacking Transparency

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 would put it at double to triple the cost of other premium telehealth providers, such as Healthy Life.

However, the “transparent pricing” fails to mention the cost of wellness experts (up to $1560), which are only available once you click on “book now”.

Also, the “standard pricing” from the pricing page is advertised differently on its Instagram page [3], FAQ 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.

The cinch is the wellness expert page, which offers a nutritionist consult for $340, 4-week coaching program for $1,346 and a 60-minute yoga session for $360 or a five-session pack at $1,560.

Then, there’s the “discounted” initial consult at $59 and a “free NP consult”, which is described as an intake consult, with no access to certificates, scripts or medical advice.

Regardless of whether the “standard” price for new clients is $99 or $149, this puts Greencare well above other premium providers such as Prime Medic and also above those offering alternative options such as Healthy Life or Burst Health.

If you can get the “discounted price” of $59 or $49, you’d be paying premium prices, such as at Prime Medic. You’d need to make sure the follow-ups with “practitioners” are not charged at the “standard” $99 advertised on the homepage and pricing page, as you’d be paying around double the standard telehealth industry rate.

However, Greencare’s initial consult cost does include a free “nurse” follow-up. It is not clear if this is with an NP or whether you can receive medical advice during this consult.

The strong inconsistency in advertising also extends to the so-called free nurse practitioner consult, which is an intake chat and provides no access to medications, certificates, or medical advice, unlike fully bulk-billed NP consults elsewhere, such as those offered by Healthcare from Anywhere.

Wait times at Greencare are undefined. The service mentions same-day appointments but no specific wait time and no business hours. Based on Google reviews [2], I believe you can expect delays between booking, NP consult and doctor consult. Furthermore, the service requires a health report from your regular doctor, which will potentially delay your appointment or mean you’ll require a follow-up for any chronic illness management. The appointments are often not with the same doctors. Customers also frequently report that they were unable to get their scripts filled at pharmacies, as doctors prescribe unavailable products. So, you should expect long wait times for both the appointments as well as having your scripts filled, if you do decide to go with this provider.

Here's the pricing at a glance:

• Initial consult $149 (as per main page, although there are inconsistencies in the advertising and some customers may get discounts)
• Follow-up costs $99
• NP intake call is free.

• Medical weight management costs $59 per consult, although this is only stated on the weight loss page, whereas the homepage currently mentions a $149 fee reduced to $59, then $99 for follow-ups.
• Hair loss management, women’s health, men’s health are also advertised on its specific page as $59 per consult.

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.

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 glaring 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 what this encompasses.
• The process is cumbersome, as it requires not just signing up, booking, and paying on the website before your doctor consult, but also two additional steps: an intake call with an NP and requesting a health report from your current doctor. User reviews [2] show that this makes it hard for some patients to have a timely and conclusive initial doctor consult. This means, they sometimes have to book in for a follow-up (charged at double the rate), once their health record is available.
• The actual consults also receive mixed reviews [2], mainly for three reasons: technical requirements that are hard to follow even for IT professionals and result in missing the doctor consult or the doctor not being able to connect/ hear their patients, mixed reviews on the doctors available with some receiving consistent one-star reviews, and prescribed products not being available at the partner pharmacies, resulting in additional consults, approval needed and further delays. Customers also complain about the available product range, which they state is less than at competitors.

Overall, the user experience is lacking and the site, booking and consult process does not deliver on the promising site and high cost. The information provided looks like it is not updated regularly across all pages, including social media, and policies change frequently, or new services have been added and discounts started and discontinued without all pages being updated at the time of my review.

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 aspects 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.

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 but other sources [4] list it as Monday to Friday from 9am to 5pm. You can call, email, or text the team. Reviews [1], [2] show that some customers struggle to get in touch with 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 even longer (up to three weeks) to action promised refunds. Overall, the reviews do show 4.7 stars (out of about 700 reviews) but not all are verified and there are many more recent one-star reviews, including by long-term loyal customers. The more recent issues seem to centre around the bedside manner of some of the consulting doctors as well as the prescribing of products not available at the partner pharmacies, requiring a new consult and waiting to be cleared for approval for a different medication.

Expensive, Inconsistent, and Lacking Transparency

When thinking about using Greencare Clinics, you should verify the exact pricing for consults for your specific needs, including follow-ups, in writing. Based on user reviews [2] you may not be able to access the same treatment options and products available at other alternative telehealth providers, such as Healthy Life, and you will most certainly pay a premium for the service. If you have the time to go through the lengthy sign-up, booking, and consult process and don’t mind potentially needing multiple consults to access available medication, you could consider Greencare. If you are prepared to pay double or triple general market rates to access celebrity nutritionists, coaches and yoga teachers instead of mainstream experts this may be the service for you.

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