Fees
Prior to your surgery it is important to obtain Informed Financial Consent. This will maximize the rebate provided by your insurance company.
You should receive written information from me prior to your surgery. Sometimes your surgery is scheduled as an emergency or relatively short notice. The written information will be forwarded to you as soon as practically possible..
My anaesthetic fee takes into account the degree of difficulty of the anaesthesia, your age and general condition, the time taken and whether the operation was out of hours or an emergency.
Despite the highly specialized nature of anaesthesia, the potential risks involved and the high cost of Medical Defence Premiums, patient rebates have always been historically low for anaesthetic services. Indeed the Medicare component has been frozen for a number of years and will remain frozen into the future. The AMA recommended fee for the “true” cost of anaesthesia is about 3 times the current Government rebate for the same service (i.e. Medicare Scheduled Fee). This practice charges significantly below the AMA recommended rates. Despite this there will still be an out of pocket cost for your anaesthetic service. Most health funds have introduced “Gap Cover” schemes to try and reduce this out of pocket cost. These work by encouraging Doctors to bill the Health Fund directly, thus entitling them to a higher rebate than the Medicare scheduled fee. Although, these schemes do help to reduce this out of pocket cost, they still fall well short, and thus do not eliminate the “gap” or co payment.
Different insurance companies have different products which rebate differently. Hence the copayment does vary between insurance companies. This is a function of the particular insurance product, not a function of the fee charged.
Uninsured patients will be able to obtain a rebate from Medicare only. If you do not have any private insurance it is best to discuss the costs prior to embarking on the procedure. Please contact my rooms if you have any questions or concerns.
The account remains the final responsibility of the patient to whom the service was provided.