JULY 1st MEDICARE REBATE CHANGES - YOUR GUIDE

Letter to Our Patients

Dear Patients, Friends & Family,

We are writing to inform you about some important changes to our Appointments and Fees with the new Financial Year, in response to changing in Medicare rebates. As always, some are good, some are basically a ‘cut’ - we continue to try and navigate these with you, while keeping the lights on. For example, in keeping with the government’s initiative to increase access to Bulk-Billed Item Numbers, we are redesigning Care Plans to be ‘little and often’.

To continue providing the high-quality care we pride ourselves on, to improve fairness on a time-spent basis, and to minimise the financial impact of these Medicare changes on you, we are restructuring our appointment-book to 10-minute slots (previously 15 minutes).

Our new appointment schedule therefore gives you the choice between a ‘Quick-10’ and ‘Longer 20’ minute, standard appointment. There is no price increase with the new financial year, for the Quick-10. For those needing longer still, we have similarly divided the traditional ‘Long’ 20-40 minute appointment, into ’30-minute’ and ’40-minute’ options. Overall, this should be fairer on the pocket, as you will pay for the time taken in smaller-increments, with less ‘rounding’!

There are two important things to note:

• We are relying upon you to ensure you book an appointment of an appropriate length. No trying to ‘sneak a 15-minute appointment into a 10-minute slot’ please! For a 10-minute appointment we suggest a maximum of two new, or continuing problems. For several items, plus scripts etc 20 minutes. For ‘the shopping-list’ style of appointment, 30 or 40 minutes. Only you know how long you take, but we will try to help organise you! Let our reception staff know the reasons for your visit when booking, so we can allocate the appropriate time.

• An unavoidable consequence of the longer consultations is that they get progressively more expensive - however, often if you have multiple ongoing concerns or more complex issues to discuss, it will be more appropriate for you to be making use of the new Medicare Care Plans, which will provide you up to four Bulk-Billed appointments per year.

Similarly, if you are invited for a Health Assessment, say “yes”! This will be a prolonged appointment, taking a deep-dive into relevant aspects of your health, and is again Bulk-Billed. Overall, we will continue to try and muster our resources as effectively as possible, to keep additional costs as low as possible. We understand these changes will be an adjustment for you as much as us, and some will benefit more than others. What we are determined to maintain is our commitment to delivering comprehensive and compassionate care, and we thank you for your trust and understanding.

If you have any questions or need assistance with booking an appointment, please don’t hesitate to contact our reception team.

Swansea Channel Doctors