Change in Fee Policy from November 2022

As your local GP practice the Loxton Health Centre takes pride in delivering a high quality service to our patients and community.

After much consideration we have made the difficult decision to modify our fee policy. From 1 November 2022 the Loxton Health Centre will become a private billing practice.

This means there will be a GAP or out of pocket cost for all patients including concession and pension card holders.

Pension and Concession card holders will receive a discounted fee however we will
require payment in full on the day.

Children under 16 years and DVA patients will continue to be bulk billed.

Why have we decided to become a private billing practice?

The Medicare Benefit schedule MBS patient rebates determined by the Commonwealth Government have failed to keep pace with inflation and do not reflect the cost of delivering high quality general practice services.

As has been widely reported in the media, medical centres and doctors around Australia are finding it increasingly difficult to provide quality care by “bulk-billing”, in other words relying on Medicare rebates alone and not charging patients “out of pocket” fees.

The Loxton Health Centre is an independent small business owned by the partner doctors of the practice. Like all small businesses, we have substantial overheads including staff wages and superannuation, rent, utility bills, office supplies, medical supplies, taxes and many other expenses. These costs continue to increase, particularly in the current high inflation environment. We rely on the payments made by Medicare and patients to cover the costs of providing GP services.

In reality, Medicare rebates have barely increased in the last 10 years. Labor started the Medicare “freeze” in 2013 and the Liberal coalition continued it. As a result, the current funding for General Practice is less than half of what it should be if it had kept up with the real world costs.

The graph below shows the difference between rising costs of living (the top line) and the amount the government invests in your healthcare (bottom line). You will notice that these lines are moving further apart. This is why we are now charging a fee to sustain the viability of general practice within the town.

If you have concerns about the rising out-of-pocket cost for healthcare, please notify your local state and federal members.

After consideration we have set our fees at a level that will allow us to continue to cover these costs. The fee schedule remains below that recommended by the Australian Medical Association (AMA).

The introduction of the new gap payments will allow us to continue to employ our administration and nursing staff, provide high quality medical equipment and services, encourage new GPs to stay in the town and most importantly ensure the Loxton Health Centre remains viable into the future, providing excellent medical services to you, our community, for many years to come.

Regular Booked Appointments (Bronze Appointment)

Urgent or Semi-Urgent Appointments (Gold and Silver Appointments)

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Notes

• Children 15 and under will continue to be bulk billed
• DVA card holders will be continue to be bulk billed
• Certain procedures (e.g. skin excisions, Mirena insertions) will occur an additional cost
• If an appointment is missed without notifying the clinic at least 1 hour before the start of the appointment there will be $25 missed appointment charge