No, generally not. We operate a full-service private practice clinic with leading local clinical and administrative staff, along with the latest state-of-the-art diagnostic and therapeutic clinical technology, which enables us to offer patients a truly world-class clinical experience. This service is not possible to run on a Bulk-Billing model.  Therefore, there are reasonable out-of-pocket expense associated with most consultations and procedures.

No, you don’t.  You are allowed to see a specialist without a GP referral in Australia.  However, having a GP referral enables you to claim the Medicare rebate after seeing a specialist.  If you are a Medicare card holder and want to claim the Medicare rebate, you will require a valid referral from either a GP or another specialist to entitle you to claim your Medicare rebate.

GP referrals are valid for 12 months and Specialist referrals are valid for 3 months.

Patients who do not have a Medicare care or who do not want to claim the Medicare rebate do not require a referral to attend our practice and will be billed per our standard rates.

Yes, you can.  You can use a referral that is made out to a different specialist of the same speciality/vocation (eg: another head and neck surgeon) to see one of our specialists.

In clinic

Private health insurance does not cover what is done in the rooms (unless you are an in-patient or overseas visitor with international travel insurance). If you are an international visitor with the necessary insurance, full payment is required at the time of the consultation, you will then be provided with a receipt to claim directly from your provider.

Surgery

No, you are not necessarily required to have private health insurance to be a patient in a private hospital. A ‘self-funded’ patient is someone who doesn’t have Private Health Insurance, but pays cash for their medical treatment upfront.  This consists of the specialist’s fee, the anaesthetist’s fee, the surgical assistant’s fee and the hospital’s fee.  It’s the hospital fee which makes up the vast majority of the cost.