Our Billing Policy has changed effective 1 October 2019

From 1 October 2019, we have made the following changes to our billing policy in order to ensure we can continue to provide high quality health care under a fair and sustainable business model.

Rather than increasing fees across the board, we have made some changes to the types of patient we routinely bulk bill. This means that some patients will pay more, because they will no longer be routinely bulk billed.

However, we are introducing a new set of discounted consultation fee rates for such patients, so they will not need to pay our normal consultation fees.

In addition, these discounted rates will now also apply to certain other types of patients who are relatively disadvantaged, meaning some patients will now pay less under our new policy.

The changes are as follows:

• Patients aged over 65 with a Health Care Card (including Commonwealth Seniors Health Card) will no longer be routinely bulk billed. However, they will pay a discounted rate for consultation fees (with a gap of approximately $25, rather than the standard gap of approximately $45 which applies under our normal consultation fee) for consultations between 10am and 4pm on weekdays.

• The new discounted rates (ie. the gap of approximately $25) will also apply for consultations between 10am and 4pm on weekdays to:

  • persons aged 16 and 17;

  • Pensioner Concession Card holders who are aged under 65;

  • Health Care Card holders (including Commonwealth Seniors Health Card holders), whatever their age.

Keep in mind:

• For consultations between 10am and 4pm on weekdays, patients aged over 65 with a Pensioner Concession Card will still be bulk billed, as will DVA card holders and children aged 15 years and under.

• Our full consultation rates will generally apply for all appointments commencing before 10am and after 4.15pm on weekdays and at all times on weekends.

• Our GPs will sometimes give a discount or bulk bill a patient even if the above criteria don’t apply, either because they have a long-standing agreement with a disadvantaged patient, or on a case-by-case basis for very short appointments (eg. where a patient requires nothing more than a repeat prescription, or where the GP recalls you for a quick discussion of results). This will continue under our current billing policy, but the decision is always at the GPs discretion, and the decision will generally made following the appointment, not before (unless you are advised otherwise).