How are your doctor's fees structured?
The doctors consulting from Schwarz Family Practice privately bill their patients. All doctors and allied health practitioners consulting from the practice are independant providers and determine their own fees. Please check with these providers to ensure that you know the cost of their services.We pride ourselves in supporting doctors so they can provide exceptional, high quality patient care. Your doctor aims to make you to feel that you are not being rushed, that they are attentive to your needs and explain your health issues clearly.
Your doctor has structured their fees to reflect the time you spend with them, the complexity of your issues, as well as the number of procedures performed during your consultation. Fees are payable at the time of consultation. The doctors we support have used the AMA fee structure to form the basis of their billing which is displayed in the reception area of the surgery.
Your doctor may charge a redued rate for their patients who are concession card holders (health care cards, pensioner or DVA), or children under 16 years of age. Please advise your doctor if you are suffering any financial hardship as they are sensitive to such situations and is willing to assist where possible.
What does it cost to attend?
Below are the current fees for the doctors consulting from Schwarz Family Practice. To view a more detailed list of their Practice Fees, please ask one of our friendly receptionists.
Please note the doctors we support frequently offer reduced rates for their patients with valid concession cards (including pensioner and health care cards and all children under 16 years of age.
Fee Increase – July 2024
Dear Patients,
Thank you for trusting us with you and your loved ones medical care. Schwarz Family Practice continues to operate using private billing practices, with instant Medicare rebates available for most services provided, leaving an ‘out of pocket gap’ to the practice.
In July 2024, the Schwarz Family Practice will be increasing our fee’s in order to continue offering our medical care to Camden and ensure the business can keep running. We have always been committed to keeping our fee’s below the AMA recommended rate and we continue to honour this as we are aware of the rising cost of living (some fee’s still remain 30% below the recommended rate). Doctors at Schwarz Family Practice retain the ability to offer reduced rates for their services at their discretion. Fee’s are payable at the time of your consultation.
We require the gap due to:
- Government underfunding of Medicare for over 20 years;
- Increased demand and complexity of patient care over the pandemic and beyond;
- The rising cost of business operations – including but not limited to; clinical and non-clinical staff, rent, equipment, technology, medical insurance, consumables and training; and
- To ensure we maintain an optimal level of care to our patients as the current Medicare structure does not incentivize GPs to spend more time with the patient when it is often needed.
We understand that the increasing cost of healthcare will impact patients. Our decisions around this structure have been made to ensure the business can continue operating and are the result of much thought.
FROM 1 JULY 2024
| Standard Consultation (up to 15 minutes) | $100 (Medicare rebate $41.40) |
| Long consultation (up to 30 minutes) | $155 (Medicare rebate $80.10) |
| Prolonged consultation (over 40 minutes) | $250 (Medicare rebate $118.00) |
Mental Health Consultation Fees
| Mental Health Consult | $180 (Medicare rebate $78.95) |
| Mental Health Care Plan | $200 (Medicare rebate $100.20) |
| Review of Mental Health Care Plan | $180 (Medicare rebate $78.95) |
If you would like details on a consultation with your doctor or on a procedure please ask one of our friendly reception team who can discuss your enquiry with your doctor and pass further information along to you.
When is payment due?
The doctors we supprt require their patients to make payment at the time of consultation by cash, eftpos, Visa or Mastercard. Upon payment of your account, we have the facility to enable the available medicare rebate to be credited into your nominated cheque or savings account. All doctors and allied health practitioners consulting from the practice are independant providers and determine their own fees. Please check with these providers to ensure that you know the cost of their services.
our doctor is not responsible for third party billings (e.g. pathology, radiology and specialists). You should discuss the cost with the provider or with your Doctor prior to attending these appointments.
WorkCover charges may be covered by your employers WorkCover insurance. However, this is not guaranteed and depends on whether your claim is accepted. If you do not have a current claim number you will be required to pay your account up front and then claim through your employer.