Billing, Fees and Fine Print

Health Care card holders, and Pension card holders will be required to pay a discounted out of pocket fee for appointments.

We have absorbed hundreds of individual price increases over the last 3 years, but the future of our clinic looks grim unless we make some difficult decisions.

When we bulk bill an appointment, we’re agreeing to accept a fee that is roughly half of what is required to keep our practice open. The reason the fee is no longer enough to cover our costs is because whilst costs have steadily increased over the last 2 decades, the Medicare rebate - the amount the government pays us to see you - has not.

We know your healthcare needs to remain affordable, and so we have carefully developed a new billing policy that we hope balances this against the future of our clinic.

• Essential Care appointments (previously care plans and care plan reviews)

• Shared medical appointments (coming soon)

• Some nursing appointments

If you have a health condition likely to last longer than 6 months (not including pregnancy), you are eligible for our Essential Care program.

Our Essential Care program has been designed to include a detailed annual appointment, and up to 3 further appointments 3 months apart - a total of 4 appointments per year - during which you, your doctor and nurse will undertake a thorough and detailed assessment of your health and plan ahead. If you require more than 4 appointments per year and cannot afford to pay for them a plan will be discussed during your Essential Care appointment.

Medicare doesn’t allow gap only payments. Gap only payments typically result in a 90 day delay in payment from Medicare. This is not a viable option for our clinic.

Telephone and Televideo appointments incur the same fee as Face to Face appointments because they require exactly the same amount of your doctor’s time as a Face to Face appointment. Often they require additional reception support for you to receive your medical certificate, pathology or radiology requests or other paperwork.

If you feel you are not getting value from a telephone appointment and don’t wish to pay for it, we encourage you to book a Face to Face appointment instead, although, if you have tested positive to COVID-19 we currently request that your initial discussion be via telephone.

If not being bulk billed is a deal breaker for you, you can choose to be seen at a bulk billing clinic.

In Warrnambool, clinics who continue to bulk bill include;

• Handbury Medical Suites at WRAD (55645777)

• Gunditjmara Health Clinic (55643344)

If you choose to transfer your care to these clinics, we will support you to ensure your records are transferred seamlessly.

Please join us in protesting about the out of pocket cost of your healthcare. The only way to remedy this is to let the federal government know, through your federal MP Mr Dan Tehan, or the Minister for Health Mr Mark Butler, that your access to healthcare is now being limited by cost.

Your general practitioners in primary care receive the very lowest percentage of funding in the health budget. This needs to change so that our business can continue to provide you with the preventive, whole-of-person, continuous care you deserve and need.