Out of pocket expenses - Surgical Procedures
Health Funds’ payments to surgeons have not kept pace with inflation or the costs of running a practice.
Professor Miller’s fees are higher than the Medicare rebate, but lower than the recommended Australian Medical Association schedule of fees.
When you book a procedure, Dr Miller will provide a fee estimate that will be payable prior to surgery.
After surgery, you may use your receipt to claim a rebate from Medicare and your Private Health Fund. Most, but not all of the fee will be reimbursed.
The amount you are reimbursed depends on your fund and your plan.
Occasionally additional procedures are required that may result in further fee payable after surgery, but if this happens, it is typically fully rebatable by your fund, so it is uncommon to have further out of pocket costs after surgery.
Post-operative consultations are free of charge for four weeks.
Anaesthetic services are billed separately. We can provide the contact details of your anaesthetist if you wish to discuss anesthetic fees.
This is not a Bulk Billing Practice. However, our top priority is caring for you and your health needs. If these costs represent an undue hardship for you, please discuss them with us.
Investigations
If you have had any previous investigations, (relevant blood tests, ultrasound, CT scan etc), it is VERY IMPORTANT that Dr Miller has these at the time of the consultation. Please supply our office with reports prior to the consultation. For most radiology practices, we can access images electronically if we are informed in advance.
Fine Needle Aspiration Biopsy (FNA)
If you need a thyroid biopsy, it can be performed on the day of your consultation, in the East Melbourne rooms. No specific preparation is required for this simple procedure, much like having a blood test. You may eat and drink normally before and after the procedure. In most cases you may have the initial consultation with Dr Miller, then return around one hour + later for the biopsy, so please take this into consideration when planning parking or other appointments.
Getting to East Melbourne
For information about public transport and parking at East Melbourne, please visit the Epworth Freemason’s website by following this link: Epworth Freemasons Victoria Parade – Epworth HealthCare
Parking: There is paid undercover parking and ample metered parking in Victoria Parade and surrounding side streets.
Public Transport: Use trams 109 or 12 (Stop 15, Victoria Parade), or a 15 minute walk from Jolimont Station.
Privacy Information and Consent Forms
This medical practice collects information from you for the primary purpose of providing quality healthcare. We ask you provide us with your personal details and a full medical history so that we may properly assess, diagnose, treat and be proactive in your health care needs. We may use the information you provide for administrative purposes in running our medical practice, including billing and compliance with Medicare and the Health Insurance Commission requirements. Correspondence will be sent to your referring doctor, as well as other practitioners involved in your care. Confidentiality will always be maintained if any information related to your care is used for research or quality assurance purposes.
While every endeavour is made to keep medical and personal history confidential, at times it may be necessary to send patient correspondence via unencrypted email.
I consent to the handling of my information by this practice for the purposes set out above, subject to any limitations on access or disclosure that I have advised.