Decision to Not Increase Fees in 2013
Dear Patients:
On the 1st of November each year, the Australian Government has traditionally increased Medicare rebates. This year, the Government does not intend to increase Medicare rebates at all.
We understand that in this difficult financial climate any increase in our fees will place additional strain upon your household budget, so we have decided not to increase our fees in this financial year. In order to keep our fees unchanged from November 2012 to July 2014, we are asking all of our patients to pay our accounts in full on the day of service. As you may be aware, many of our patients are already doing this.
At the moment, if you only pay a gap when you visit your doctor, Medicare sends you a cheque which you must then bring in to our surgery to be processed. This process is time consuming and involves a cost to us. It is this cost that we want to eliminate so that we can keep our fees the same for you.
When you pay in full when you see your doctor, Medicare can give you back your rebate within 48 hours if you provide Medicare with your bank account details. We can help you to set this up with Medicare. As an alternative, Medicare can send you a cheque for your rebate if you prefer this.
We are aware that we have created some confusion for our Commonwealth Senior Card Holder patients. We have therefore decided that the fees for our Commonwealth Senior Card Holder patients will be the same as the reduced rates paid by our Health Care Card Holder and Pensioner patients.
We would like to thank all of you who are already paying in full on the day of seeing your doctor. In order to give our Card Holder patients time to plan for these changes, we will not be asking them to pay in full until 1 January 2014.
From the 1 January 2014, patients on a Concession Card that would still prefer to pay the gap only may do so, but a $3.00 processing fee will be added to your gap payment.
We appreciate your understanding in this matter and would like to assure you that the quality of care that we offer you is our first priority.
For more information about gaps please visit the AMA Website.
Image: Australian Medical Association, AMA Gaps Poster 2013, https://ama.com.au/ama-gaps-poster