ANAESTHESIA FEES
| |
|
|
| |
Anaesthesia fees can be confusing - we hope that this information helps clarify your understanding
• Before your procedure you should be provided with an indication of your likely anaesthetic costs.
• The anaesthetic fee is determined by a number of different factors.
• Most patients will have an out of pocket expense for their anaesthetic service.
• The out of pocket fee or "gap" is the difference between the cost of the anaesthetic service and the amount rebated from the health fund.
• There is a wide variation between health funds terms of how much they rebate for a given anaesthetic service.
Please contact us if you have any queries
|
|
Your anaesthetic fee is determined by a number of factors, the most significant of which are the complexity and the duration of your procedure.
There is no "set fee" for anaesthetic services, however the Australian Society of Anaesthetists and the Australian Medical Association does publish a set of "recommended" fees. These recommended fees are significantly larger than the rebates offered by the private health insurance funds.
The anaesthetists at "Anaesthesia Analgesia" each have their own individual billing methods, however in most cases this amount lies somewhere between the no gap rate and the rate recommended by the ASA.
For some procedures, the anaesthetist will send the entire account directly to the health fund and in these cases there is no additional cost to the patient. This is referred as a "no gap" service.
For other cases anaesthetists will charge a fee higher than the "no gap" rate for their service. Whilst there is a contribution to this fee paid by both Medicare and the private health fund, the patient is responsible for any outstanding costs - this amount is commonly referred to as a "gap payment".
There are over 50 different health funds and no two health funds are the same! In fact, health funds vary significantly, both in terms of the contribution they make to your anaesthetic fee and also in how they handle your account. Some health funds allow a gap payment to be sent directly to the patient others insist that the entire anaesthetic account is sent to the patient.
When in doubt ask...
Before your procedure, you should be provided with an indicative quotation for your anaesthetic service. This is sometimes provided by the surgeon's room, and in other cases we will contact you to provide this information.
If you have not received any information with regards to the anaesthetic costs relating to your treatment please contact us on 9329 2311.
Patients are covered under Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA), Workcover or TAC (with an approved claim) will have their accounts paid for by the appropriate body and will not have any ‘out of pocket’ expense.