General Overview:

We are a private billing practice. We do not routinely "bulk bill". Your Medicare rebate does not cover the full cost of care. Fees are payable at the time of your consultation. Fees apply to Consults that are face to face, by video or by telephone or email. We offer EFTPOS facilities and also accept Visa and Mastercard. For your convenience, we also offer Medicare Easyclaim for instant electronic Medicare rebates at the time of payment or overnight claiming. Credit and Debit card transaction fees may be added at time of payment. The lowest transaction fee is when you use a Savings or cheque acct. Credit cards are charged a slightly higher transaction fee

We are aware of costs and endeavour to work to minimise your out of pocket expense where we can.

We offer as follows:

• Concession fees to all people under 25 and all pensioners and concession card holders.
• Bulk Billed standard attendance consultations for under 16's on a current concession card.
• Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander people on annual GP care plans with chronic disease (annual registration required) may be accepted for Bulk Billing for some consultations
• Concession fees for all aboriginal & torres strait islander people for a 12 month period following an annual Aboriginal Health assessment.
• Chronic Disease Care Plans, and most Health assessments will be privately billed, with some patients eligible for discretionary Bulk Billing (This excludes Heart health assessments which are all privately billed)) (Care plan reviews are not routinely bulk billed, but do attract a higher medicare rebate which reduces your out of pocket expense)
• Bulk Bill Mental health plans for people under 18. (Mental health plan reviews are not routinely bulk billed)
• Other consultations including mental health, standard GP care plan reviews and standard attendance consults will be subject to our practice fee policy.

For more information go to Don Medical Clinic Billing Policy

Chronic Disease and Health Assessments:

We do understand that for people with chronic needs health care can become quite expensive. Our Keep Well Clinic will allow access to Medicare Chronic Disease item numbers to assist you to keep your out of pocket cost down whilst at the same time delivering qualilty care to you and in the long term a quality of life. There are Medicare compliance rules around the Chronic disease item number usage. For more information please go to Keep Well Clinic

Practice Nurse visits:

Our practice nurses are highly skilled health professionals and valuable members of our clinical team. Sometimes your GP may ask you to see the Nurse for a review or follow up (Face to face or by telehealth). If you have a current Care plan, you are eligible for a Medicare rebate for up to 5 visits each calender year to assist managing your chronic disease. Our nurses can assist with several healthcare services such as Wound management, Weight management, Blood pressure measuring, Immunisations, Ear Syringing and in some cases- Implanon insertion and removal to name a few. These are not "free" services and there may be fees associated with these services that may not be eligible for a Medicare rebate. (Only Nurse visits as part of a GP Care plan are eligible for Medicare rebates)

Workers Compensation and Medicals:

Workers compensation will be billed to the employer. Worksafe Tasmania

Pre employment / insurance and commercial driving medicals are often billed to the employee and do not attract a medicare rebate.

Forms:

NDIS, Centrelink and other forms will be discussed in a consultation with the patient that will attract a medicare rebate but please note there maybe more work required by the doctor following the consultation and this may attract a fee that is not medicare rebatable. For more information go to FORMS.

Mental Health:

Mental Health appointments are longer and complex consultations. These often require double appointments. A mental health plan is created by the GP for the patient. This will encompass SMART goals for the patient and if needed will also allow the patient to access up to 10 Medicare subsidised visits per calendar year ( there maybe a gap fee ) to a psychologist/ nurse/ social worker / OT who are registered with the Better Access to Mental Health Scheme.

Focussed Psychological Strategies in the general practice practice are delivered by GPs who have undertaken extended mental health skills training and who are registered with Medicare. These are longer appointments and attract a Medicare rebate. Please discuss with reception.

The Better Access to Mental Health program has recently established specific item numbers to manage Eating Disorders, please discuss with your doctor.

Adolescent Health and Well Being:

These appointments are often complex and often involve physical and mental assessments. Where possible they are booked as double appointments to allow adequate time to discuss any relevant issues. We will always try to get the best Medicare rebate for you where appropiate. These consultations often involve meeting with the parents on their own and a fee may be billed to the parent for this time. This is a special interest area for Dr Jane Cooper and she does endeavour to utilise as many means as possible to provide Confidential, accessible, affordable, and non-judgement health care.

Travel Medicine:

Please note that consults in relation to travel medicine may not always attract a Medicare rebate if they are for work purposes and you will be charged a fee for the service.