Hello, welcome to the Gawler Medical Clinic website.
Billing changes affecting Health Care card holders, Concession card holders and Children under 16
from 4th April 2022
In the current political climate, there is a lot of misinformation out there surrounding Medicare rebates and bulk billing.
We, as a practice, want to provide our side of the story.
The mission of Gawler Medical Clinic is to provide high quality care, by a team proud of our work and community. Our focus is to provide our patients with a comprehensive and holistic range of services that address their current and future physical and mental health needs in a timely and professional manner.
To continue to deliver the best possible quality of care, we have come to the conclusion that we have no choice but to move away from accepting the value that the government places on our services.
For many years, Medicare rebates have failed to keep pace with inflation and do not reflect the cost of delivering high quality general practice services.
We currently receive an incentive of $6.55 per consult to bulk bill Pensioners, Health Care card holders and children under 16. Keeping that in mind, we have been faced with the question of looking at how we continue to balance the needs of our patients for affordable, quality health care, with the requirement to operate a sustainable business. We have considered the option of doing what other clinics are choosing i.e. – high patient volume and minimal care – but we, as a medical team are unable to reconcile ourselves with that approach, and feel our patients deserve better.
Taking all this into consideration:
From Monday 4th April we will begin decreasing the number of patients we presently bulk bill (currently 75%).
Doctors will be introducing a discounted private fee of $12, that will apply to patients on a current Health Care Card (including children) and Pension card holders.
DVA patients will not be affected by these changes.
Doctors’ discretion will always be used and patients, who are experiencing financial difficulty, can always discuss this with their Doctor.
Bulk billing may also be offered outside of these guidelines on a visit by visit basis.
Your account will need to be paid in full and the rebate given back at the time of the consult. A standard consult will be $51.10 with a rebate of $39.10.
This has been a difficult decision for us and we understand it is also difficult for our patients.
We thank you for your continued support of Gawler Medical Clinic and if you have any questions or wish to provide feedback or suggestions around these changes, please feel free to write to the Practice Manager. We ask that you please be respectful to our staff with these changes.