As of Monday 9th January 2023, Yamanto Family Practice transitions to mixed billing.
Practice Fees
Our practice is A MIXED BILLING Practice. Please ensure you bring your current Medicare, Pension and Health Care cards to every appointment. A small fee may be applicable to some minor procedures. Our staff will notify you if this is applicable prior to your appointment. Patients who do not have a Valid Medicare card or do not fall into the mixed billing criteria will be required to pay for their consultation, from 7.00am to 8.10am a fee of $94.00 applies from 8.10am to 5.00pm a fee of $80.00 applies for a standard consultation, your Medicare rebate will be processed at the time of consultation, should a longer consult or other services be required further costs may be incurred, please check with reception for clarification of these services.
Patients and Services Eligible for Bulk Billing
The following patients and services will continue to be bulk billed:
- Patients who hold current pension, concession and health care cards. Please remember to bring these cards to each Consultation.
- Children under the age if 16 years
- Mental Health Care Plans
- Full body skin checks (no consultation attached)
- All health assessments, care plans and health checks
Please contact Reception on 3288 9266 should you have any queries regarding billing details for private patients and services not stated above.
Bulk billing services are at the discretion of the treating Doctor and are strictly consent-based.
We hope that in the future, Medicare will provide a higher rebate to our patients so that accessing healthcare will have a lower out-of-pocket cost. If you have concerns about the rising cost for healthcare, please notify your local State and Federal members.
In order to monitor your health and fulfil our ethical and legal responsibilities, we require that you attend your doctor for either a face to face consultation or a phone consultation if you require further prescriptions and referrals.
If your doctor is not available, another doctor in the practice can attend to your request.
Workplace and legal related medical issues are billed to relevant insurers, employers or solicitors.
Our reception staff can advise you of cost not covered by Medicare (Private medicals/ Medical Reports, and services not stated)
WHAT IS BULK-BILLING?
Medicare is a public health insurance scheme. It provides rebates (support payments) to you when you access eligible health services, such as visiting your GP. These payments are yours, not your GP’s. In most cases, the rebate you receive does not cover the total cost of the health service provided. ‘Bulk billing’ is when a doctor bills Medicare directly for the services provided to you, so you have no out-of-pocket expenses. If you are bulk billed, your doctor has accepted the rebate that Medicare pays for that particular service
WHY DO WE CHARGE A FEE?
The rebate for GP consultations is less than 50% of the fee that has been recommended byour nation’s medical associations. Simply put, the amount that Medicare pays for each appointment no longer covers the cost of running a medical practice.
Our clinic has been providing quality health care to the Yamanto Family Practice community for the last 6 years. There have been many challenges along the way, but none as difficult as the lack of funding for general practice perpetuated by successive governments.
For the benefit of our patients, our clinic has been absorbing this loss for many years, but this is no longer sustainable for the practice. This is now the case for many GP clinics across Australia.
As such from Monday 9th January 2023, we will be charging a $40.00 gap fee on all item numbers for all patients booking appointments except if you are booking for a flu vaccine or fall into the billing criteria as stated in our Billing above.
Your Medicare Rebate can be claimed onsite and rebated to your designated account within 24 hours of your appointment via Tyro.
There will be a gap fee for some of the procedures on weekdays such as skin excisions. This will allow us to maintain a high level of care for our patients.
Finalising your Account
All accounts must be finalised on the day of your appointment. EFTPOS services are available. We do not accept AMEX, DINERS or cheques. Outstanding accounts must be settled before further appointments are scheduled.
Payment for third party insurance claims must be finalised in full before any information is released.
Medicare rebates are applied directly. Alternatively, paid invoices can be presented to Medicare for claiming at a later stage.