Arranging Surgery & Costs

Once surgery has been deemed appropriate, the consent and booking process begins.

During the consent process, the patient is provided with a description of the proposed operation as well as the risks involved. Understanding the benefits of any surgery as well as the risks is very important. 

Printed handouts and an opportunity to answer any question will be given during the consultation and offered at any time prior to surgery. Handouts may also be sent via email.

Surgery is then organized along the following steps:

• An operation booking form is given to your Surgeon’s secretary to arrange a quote
• A quote is provided to the patient (usually by email) - see Costs below
• A date for surgery is arranged with the patient - exact admission times are given by our rooms or the hospital well in advance of the surgery. Please note children are usually operated on in order of age i.e babies will usually be done first on a morning list.
• Information is provided to the patient to help them obtain quotes from the hospital and the anaesthetist.
• Patients will be reminded to bring any relevant scans or hearing tests to surgery

If surgery is organized in a short time frame, most of these steps can be performed "while-you-wait" in our office.

Costs

Understanding costs is a very important part of private surgical practice.

Consultation Fees

These reflect the costs involved in running a state-of-the-art medical facility and in maintaining very high quality medical equipment. 

Discounts are provided to those with a current valid pensioner card and Gold card holding Veterans are covered by the Department of Veteran's Affairs.

Private Health Insurance does not contribute to consultations outside of hospital but Medicare does rebate a proportion of our fees. At the time of consultation our staff will be happy to process any Medicare claim (provided you have registered your details with Medicare).

Occasionally additional procedures such as endoscopy are performed in the rooms and these are also subject to cost.  

Please click here to get a better understand what endoscopy entails.   

Please contact head office on (03) 9895 0400 for the latest table of fees.

Private Surgical Fees

Fees for surgery include the following:

• Operative fees (payable to the Surgeon) - these reflect the duration, complexity and special training required to perform the surgery. The “Gap payment” is the difference between the surgical fees and the refund given from your health fund. It should be stressed different health funds rebate very different amounts for the same surgical service. Gap payments usually reflect the cost of the insurance premium - i.e cheaper insurance = a larger gap payment required to cover the surgical fees. Medicare will also refund part of the surgical fees.
  
  
• Private Hospital fees (payable to the hospital) - these are determined by the health care facility.They are often fully covered by even the most basic hospital insurance. You will need to check these costs with your insurer prior to booking surgery. They are usually not covered by Medicare.

• Anaesthetic fees (payable to the anaesthetist) - these are determined by the Anaesthetist and a quote can be obtained from them prior the surgery. Our staff will tell you who the anaesthetist is well in advance of surgery.

• Pathology and Radiology fees (payable to them) - Tissue specimens are often sent to pathology for examination during surgery. Occasionally the need for this is not predicted in advance and additional costs may be incurred. Xrays are rarely needed during surgery. Pathology costs are often covered by private hospital insurance.