Fees
This is a private billing practice. The doctors charge a fee for the professional services they provide. Currently 100% of the schedule fee for consultations and 85% for procedures is refundable by Medicare. The doctors are independent practitioners who set their own individual fee rates and when those fee rates apply.
A quick guide to how Medicare works
Medicare is a public health insurance scheme. It provides rebates (support payments) to you when you access eligible health services. However, it may not cover the total cost of the health service. If you are ‘bulkbilled’, the doctor accepts the Medicare rebate as full payment for the service and you sign or press the OK button, to allow Medicare to directly pay your rebate to the GP. If you are ‘privately’ billed, you pay the GP’s fee in full. You will then receive the standard patient rebate, reimbursing you part of the fee you paid.
The reality is that Medicare rebates do not cover the cost of providing you with a safe and high quality service. This is because the rate at which successive governments have indexed the Medicare Schedule fees has been substantially lower than increases in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) and average weekly earnings. The fees charged by this practice have to cover all of our practice costs including employing receptionists and practice nurses, and meeting our operating expenses such as rent, medical equipment, electricity, computers and insurance.
Past freezing and cutting of Medicare rebates has essentially devalued your GP. Inflation and award wages increases have put huge financial pressures on your General Practice.
What other professional do you see for $41.40? (the fee the government pays your doctor if the service is bulk billed)
We strive to give patients quality comprehensive care with a whole of practice approach to service delivery. The reality is that you pay more at the vet or the hairdresser than you do at the GP.
We usually bulk bill Veterans, pensioners and health care holders and children aged under 16 years.
This is so the most vulnerable people in our community are not excluded from receiving quality care.
Each doctor may vary their fee policy. For example some doctors charge all patients on Saturday mornings and some doctors charge fees to health care card holders with a small out of pocket expense. Please check with reception at the time of booking.
Services which are generally bulk-billed include:
- Childhood immunisations
- Chronic disease management plans
- Annual Health assessments (75 years and over)
- Home Medication Management reviews
- Annual Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Checks for all age groups
- 45-49 year-old health checks for patients at-risk of chronic disease
Please be advised that each doctor is responsible for charging his/her own fees and that just because one doctor bulk bills you, another doctor may not.
All other patients are charged a fee and they get their rebate back from Medicare, instantly through Easyclaim. In the current climate and in view of the ever increasing financial pressures on GPs, this policy will be adhered to.
Payment of fees is required at the time of consultation.
We have EFTPOS facilities and accept Mastercard and Visa.
Our staff, through our Medicare Australia Easyclaim and On-line services, are happy to lodge your Medicare claim enabling rapid rebates.
The Medicare office is co-located with Centrelink at 37-39 Cotton St Nerang Qld 4211 Phone 132011
Don't Forget…
The Medicare Safety Net. Make sure you are registered as a family or couple – registration forms are available in the waiting room. The Safety Net is designed to help you. It means once you reach a certain threshold, visits to your doctor will cost you less.
A standard consultation is $94.85. After the Medicare Rebate ($42.85) the out of pocket expense (OOP) is $52.00. Longer appointments or more complex consultations will incur additional fees. These will attract a higher rebate. Patients can usually expect to be, between $40 and $60 out of pocket for most services.
Your Medicare Rebate
All face-to-face consultations attract a Medicare rebate, meaning that you will receive a rebate from Medicare for part of your up-front payment, significantly reducing your out-of-pocket cost. We can submit your Medicare rebate
claim at the time of payment. Your rebate will be directly deposited into the bank account you have nominated with Medicare. From time to time, there are difficulties with the Medicare rebate being processed. Please contact us if
this occurs and we will assist in any way we can.
Non-Medicare Services
Medicare will only provide a rebate for services performed by your GP or Nurse as part of a face-to-face consultation. A non-rebatable private fee applies for any services you request your clinician to perform without your
attendance at a consultation (such as providing a script, referral or completing a form). Consultations under Workcover and InjuryNet are charged privately and there is no rebate from Medicare for these services.
Charges for Repeat Scripts and Referrals
These services without consultation attract a non rebate-able fee for ALL patients.
Repeat scripts of regular
| Medication | $15 |
| Repeat Referrals | $20 |
Patients should be reviewed by their GP before repeat prescriptions and referrals are issued. Its always safer and more timely for you than a doctor reviewing your record.
If you have not been seen for a consultation in the last 3 months you will be asked to make an appointment. Please also be aware that it has been a long standing policy of this practice that requests for repeat prescriptions and referral renewals are forwarded to the patients usual GP or another GP on duty (in their absence). It is not an on-demand service.
The GP then determines the appropriate course of action and gives the staff the direction of what to advise the patient. The GP may instruct staff to advise you to make an appointment.
Document Reprinting Fees
Your referral letters, prescriptions, pathology request forms, etc. are important documents. The reprinting of documents such as lost referral letters, lost scripts, and copies of specialist letters, misplaced pathology or radiology requests may incur a $10.00 administration fee (not Medicare refundable). Please keep your original documents as given to you by the doctor.
Please remember to take your documents to the specialist, pathology collection centre or imaging centre.
Why can’t we just print off a copy of the documents?
Letters are stored within our clinical software unsigned.
Pathology requests and prescriptions are printed on proprietary forms. Only a GP can print on these forms and sign them.
Reprints take time. Interrupting a doctor’s session for “urgent” reprints means delays for patients.
Your referring doctor may not be in for several days or on leave. If a reprint is urgently required, then another doctor has to review your file, determine for him/herself the appropriateness of the referral and then becomes responsible for the referral or test and follow up once printed and signed.
Charges for Saturday Services
Some GPs apply fees to ALL patients on Saturday. Please check at the time of booking.
Charges for telehealth
If you are usually charged for appointments, you will have fees for telehealth appointments and we will organise your Medicare Rebate. If you are eligible for bulk billing, you will be bulk billed if you have been seen face to face in the previous 12 months. Generally fees will apply if the Medicare rule for face to face is unable to be met.
Charges for transferring complete medical records
If you transfer your care to another General Practice, we will provide a health summary to your new practice at no charge. If you require your complete medical record transferred, a fee will be charged to cover registered post/secure communication costs.
Medical records transfer fee:
| Up to 2 patients | $25 |
| 3 or more patients | $35 |
Extenuating Circumstances
If you have extenuating circumstances please discuss these with your treating medical practitioner.
Your family doctor provides holistic, patient
centred care
Your ongoing care is with your regular GP
Your medical home is with your GP Practice