Fee Information
How private medical fees are charged can be confusing for patients. At Urocology, we aim to provide our patients with detailed information on our fees and predicted out of pocket expenses.
Consultations
Full payment of your consultation is payable on the day. Our preferred payment methods are Visa, Mastercard or EFTPOS. If you would like to pay for your consultation with cash or direct deposit, please advise us prior to your appointment. If a third party is paying for your consultation, we must have approval in writing before the day of consultation, so we can arrange the billing.
Your private health fund does not cover the cost of your consultation. If you have a valid referral from your GP or specialist, you will be able to claim a rebate from Medicare for a portion of your consultation. We can send this claim directly to Medicare on your behalf and it will be refunded to the nominated bank account you have set up with Medicare. This usually takes only a few days. Alternatively, we can issue a receipt for the consultation, which you will need to take to Medicare yourself for reimbursement.
Surgery
The cost of a surgical procedure in a private hospital consists of the following components, of which only the surgeon’s fee is billed to you by Urocology:
- The surgeon fee
- The assistant fee (if required)
- The anaesthetist fee (you will be given contact details for the Anaesthetic doctor for your procedure for billing enquiries.)
- The private hospital fee for theatre costs, specific technology fees, consumables, nursing care, accommodation etc. If you are having a procedure in a private hospital you either have to have private health insurance that covers hospital stays or you will have to self-fund these costs.
- Medications
- Pathology and radiology tests while in hospital
- Private health insurance excess or co-payments.
Insurance Coverage
If surgery is required, we will provide you with a personalised quote known as an Informed Financial Consent based on your private health insurance details provided. The quote will tell you the date of surgery, the hospital where your surgery will be performed, and the proposed item number/s (please note that these may be amended). It is important that you call your private health insurance company to check that you are covered for the item number/s and the hospital fees and advise us as soon as possible if there are any issues.
Where possible our aim is to reduce our patients' “out-of-pocket” or “gap” amounts, but unfortunately private health insurance coverage varies between companies and we can only control the surgeon’s component of the overall surgery costs. The Australian Medical Association (AMA) has compiled an excellent resource explaining Informed Financial Consent and surgery “out-of-pocket” or “gap” fees.