Fees & Rebates
Fees at our Consulting Rooms
Cancellation Fee
Cancellations must be made prior to 9am the working day prior to your appointment (2 Business days for Psychologist appointments).
Failure to cancel within this time frame could result in the clinician imposing a cancellation fee.
Whether a cancellation fee is charged will be entirely at the discretion of the clinician.
The cancellation fee will be a maximum 50% of the clinician’s consultation fee, sent to you as an invoice to your email and/or postal address.
The cancellation fee will require payment before any future appointments with clinicians at BallaratOSM or Ballarat Sports Medicine.
Surgical Consulting Fees
Surgeons will charge a fee for your time discussing your condition. This is not covered by private health insurance, which contributes towards hospital based treatment. Fees reflect the AMA fee structure.
Payments can be made at our clinic via EFTPOS, VISA or MASTERCARD. We can help you claim any Medicare rebate to be paid directly into your account.
Fees for surgery are separate (see below). Most surgical procedures includes consultations for about six weeks afterwards.
Orthopaedic Surgeon Standard & Review Consultation Fees
Initial Consultation Fee and Review Consultation Fee are to be paid on the day of the consultation.
Initial Consultation $230.00
Review Consultation $125.00
Initial Consultation $230.00
Review Consultation $125.00
Initial Consultation $280.00
Review Consultation $150.00
Initial Consultation $280.00
Review Consultation $150.00
Initial Consultation $230.00
Review Consultation $125.00
Spine Patients >
Initial Consultation $280.00
Review Consultation $150.00
Initial Consultation $230.00
Review Consultation $125.00
Initial Consultation $240.00
Review Consultation $140.00
Click on the surgeon’s name to reveal their fees.
Medicare Rebates:
New Patient consultation $86.15
Review consultation $43.35
Your surgeon will discuss costs of progressing to surgery if required.
Second Opinions
When a second opinion is requested, the surgeon needs to undertake more analysis of the surgical opinion already offered to provide fair and reasonable advice. A second opinion fee of $200 that cannot be claimed through Medicare will be charged in addition to your standard consultation fee.
Surgical Consulting Telehealth
Face to face appointments are generally preferred, but there still may be reasons why telehealth is appropriate.
Telehealth appointments may be available with your surgeon but will be assessed on a case-by-case basis as to patient circumstances and clinical appropriateness.
New patients cannot utilise Telehealth, this is restricted to review/follow-up appointments. Telehealth appointments will usually be bulk billed.
Sports Medicine Fees
To see the Sports & Exercise Medicine Specialist Physician, Dr Greg Harris, a referral from your GP or other doctor will be required. If you do not have a referral, you can see a Sport & Exercise Medicine Registrar (Qualified doctor training to be a specialist).
Any injections, interventions, equipment, braces, splints or similar will attract extra charges as required. There may be a Medicare or Health Insurance rebate available or these items.
Face to face appointments are generally preferred, but there still may be reasons why Telehealth is appropriate for review appointments only, and will be assessed on a case-by-case basis.
Sports Medicine Physicians
Initial Consultation $260.00
Review Consultation $150.00
Complex Issue >
Initial Consultation $375.00
Review Consultation $220.00
Initial Consultation $130.00
Review Consultation $95.00
Extended Consultation $170.00
Initial Consultation $130.00
Review Consultation $95.00
Extended Consultation $170.00
Medicare Rebates Specialist:
New Patient consultation $151.90
Complex > $265.60
Review consultation $76.00
Complex > $133.00
Medicare Rebates Registrar:
New Patient consultation $38.00
Review consultation $21.00
Extended consultation $61.00
Psychology Consulting Fees
Consultations with a Psychologist requires a referral.
Fees for consultations with a Psychologist are all $235
Telehealth appointments will be considered based on clinical requirements.
A Medicare rebate is available for eligible patients with a Medicare treatment plan of $145.25
Private Health Insurance extras cover may also cover some of your fee.
Neurology – Nerve Conduction Studies
Fees for nerve conduction studies and/or electromyography range between $200 and $300 depending on the complexity of the test. Medicare rebates are available, in general ranging between $148.65 and $222.15. Bulk billing is provided for some studies at the discretion of the provider.
Dr Matthew Linger offers neurology consultations with a referral. Please contact the rooms to discuss fees and Medicare rebates.
Physiotherapy
A range of physiotherapists are available at both our Novar and Federation University clinics. Fees are based on the experience and qualifications of the Physiotherapist. If you have Private Health Insurance extras cover, you will usually receive some of the fee back, though the quantity will depend upon your fund and level of cover.
Mr Shalin Patel > $140
APA Titled Musculoskeletal Physiotherapist
APA Titled Sport & Exercise Physiotherapist
Dr Peta Johnston > $140
PhD Physiotherapist
Please contact the rooms to discuss fees for Luke Blunden, Lexie Carter, Liam Zampatti
Exercise Physiology
Mr Jarrod Collins and Mr Grant McKechnie off exercise Physiology services at both the Novar – Webster Street Clinic and the Federation University clinic. Please contact the rooms for the applicable fees.
Contact the rooms for more information on fees
Have Other Questions?
If we have not answered your question well enough on this page or if you have a question which is not covered please get in contact with your doctor.
-
Novar Specialist Healthcare
109 Webster Street
Lake Wendouree VIC 3350 - T | 03 5332 2969
- F | 03 5332 2003
- admin@ballaratosm.com.au
Procedures
Useful Information
Not all insurance policies cover Private Hospitals. We do not have the same access to beds & operating lists in Public Hospitals as we comply with the principle of “Treat In Turn”. In Public Hospitals, we are obliged to treat patients in the order they are put on the waiting list for surgery.
There is still an advantage to patients being private rather than public patients.
- you can choose your surgeon, who is then responsible and should be aware of all decisions
- your avoid the wait to be seen in outpatients (which is the biggest single problem in public health)
- your followup treatment is with your surgeon in our rooms
Out of pocket expenses may apply, as above, but may be less if the hospital chooses not to ask for your “excess” payment. Because of the limitation of this resource, we do not advocate patients with full insurance using this option. St John of God carries advantages including a predominance of single rooms, and Ultra Clean Ventilation in the operating theatres. Some patients with this lower level of insurance still choose surgery at St John of God, and accept higher hospital expenses.
Firstly, don’t take a financial risk, assumptions that surgery will allow you to return to the workforce are sometimes wrong. All Surgeons at Ballarat Orthopaedics have a public appointment at Ballarat Base Hospital, where free treatment is available. Should you wish to pursue free treatment, please ask your GP to refer you to Ballarat Health Services Outpatients Department.
Our private practice, including our private consulting rooms, is for patients paying a fee for services delivered. Consulting fees don’t cover our costs, so we do not see uninsured patient with a view to putting their name on the public hospital waiting list. We are happy to see uninsured patients if they are seeking private surgical treatment at the hospitals we attend.
To understand the cost of surgical treatment – it is important to understand the surgeon’s fee is only a small part. Other costs include the hospital, any surgical implants (eg knee replacement), anaesthetists, assistant, radiology, and pathology.
Your total cost (not just the surgeon) AFTER Medicare could approximate:
Knee arthroscopy (eg cartilage operation) – $3,700
Knee cruciate ligament reconstruction – $5,200*
Shoulder surgery (cuff tear or instability) – $7,000*
Hip or Knee replacement – $17 000
* Physiotherapy not included in this figure.
It may be possible to have a small saving by having private surgery in a public hospital, but the financial benefit is very small. The majority of our patients are able to walk and be back home within a day or so of joint replacement surgery. Private uninsured patients having treatment in a hospital are required to pay for implants and other expenses PRIOR to admission.
All information here is given as true and correct as of the date of publication (June 2017). If you have any queries, please contact our clinic.
There is still an advantage to patients being private rather than public patients.
- you can choose your surgeon, who is then responsible and should be aware of all decisions
- your avoid the wait to be seen in outpatients (which is the biggest single problem in public health)
- your followup treatment is with your surgeon in our rooms
Out of pocket expenses may apply, as above, but may be less if the hospital chooses not to ask for your “excess” payment. Because of the limitation of this resource, we do not advocate patients with full insurance using this option. St John of God carries advantages including a predominance of single rooms, and Ultra Clean Ventilation in the operating theatres. Some patients with this lower level of insurance still choose surgery at St John of God, and accept higher hospital expenses.
What is junk insurance?
Junk health insurance is a term used to describe a health fund policy or plan that has so many exclusions, it is virtually useless in a private hospital setting. Many patients only realise that they have junk insurance after being advised by their doctor that they need urgent medical treatment which may include surgery. As this graph below shows, the number of health insurance policies with exclusions has risen significantly over the last 10 years.
Proportion of policies with exclusions and insured persons covered, 2004 to 2016 Ref: APHA Information Paper, Private Health Insurance March Quarter 2016, p.11
What to do
- Obtain a copy of your health insurance policy and write down everything you are not covered for (exclusions).
- If you are unhappy with your health fund exclusions, you can change private health insurance funds or upgrade your cover with existing funds, but beware of any restrictions for pre-existing health conditions.
- Some patients choose to have an excess rather than exclusions in their health insurance cover. What is important is to know exactly what you are covered for before you need to use it.
For further information, see www.privatehealth.gov.au
Payment on the day of appointments and payment prior to surgery of any out of pocket expenses is expected.
We don’t handle cash – as there are so many other better options!We accept any of the following Payment options:
- EFTPOS
- Direct deposit
- Cheque
- Visa or Mastercard