Hawkins Medical Clinic
BILLING
Hawkins Clinic for many years charged the government ‘scheduled fee’, set at an agreed percentage above the medicare refund. With the schedule fee not keeping pace with practice costs and inflation, the clinic determines its own fee structure, reviewed every six months in March and September.
The clinic promotes instant billing and encouragement is made to pay at the time of the service by way of a cash discount. HIC Online enables prompt lodgement and payment of bulk billing invoices.
Appointments are made using the practice computer software, Zedmed. Patients upon arrival are placed into the doctor’s electronic waiting room by reception staff. This electronic waiting room is used to open the patient’s Best Practice clinical file and to also record details of the service provided and fee charged. This item number and fee is then available to the practice accounting staff to produce an appropriate invoice and online claim for the patient.
Practice policy encourages the patient to pay the gap at the time of the consult. Medicare claims are forwarded to Medicare via HIC Online. Medicare cheques are either returned by the patient when received by Medicare or paid directly to the practice by the 90 day cheque scheme.
The full Hawkins Clinic fee is charged unless the doctor indicates a reduction is appropriate. Pensioner have been charged a gap for a number of years however with Medicare Plus bulk billing incentive the practice now bulk bills pensioners.
The doctor is responsible at all times to determine the fee they feel is appropriate for the individual patient. Health care card holders attract a discounted gap fee of $17.00. Patients are encouraged to discuss with the doctor any difficulty they may have in meeting the fee for consultation. Any patient that is given a reduced fee will be asked to pay the gap on the day otherwise the full fee applies.
Separate fees reflecting our out of hours commitment apply to after hours consults. These generally apply to appointments made after 6.00 pm on a weeknight or for the Saturday night or Sunday clinics.
Bulk billing, pensioner or repat discounts are generally not accepted in A/H clinics, full fees apply. Itinerant patients are required to pay cash for the service.
Where a patient fails to cancel their appointment a non attendance fee can be charged. Patients with mobile phones are encouraged to register for a sms reminder which is generated from within our appointment software.
Repeat prescriptions are normally charged at a nominal fee of $7.50. Patients who require their prescriptions written urgently on the same day are charged $10.00.Patient requests for prescriptions are sent to the doctor using Best Practice messaging system. This allows staff to link the request to the patient which allows the doctor to automatically open the correct patient. Details of the request are automatically entered into the progress notes.
Patient who have elected on admission to be treated privately will have their normal doctor provide care when they are available. The clinic duty doctor will continue this care during times when their normal doctor is unavailable. Private inpatients are charged HMC fees determined by the doctor. Charges for inpatient attendance must compare with a dated written note of attendance in the patient’s hospital record.