Patient Information

Fees

Cunninghame Arm Medical Centre operates as a private medical practice. Consultation fees are outlined below. Our standard appointment length is 15 minutes, with longer appointments available on request.

Indigenous patients, patients who hold a Dept of Veterans’ Affairs Gold Card and (in most circumstances) all children will attract Medicare rebate only for normal consultations.

Accounts for work related injuries (Work Cover) or motor vehicle related injuries (Transport Accident Commission, TAC) are the responsibility of the patient.

If you have a current Workcover or TAC claim number, we can forward your account directly to the insurer.

Please note that some procedures or tests performed by your doctor may incur an extra charge in addition to the usual consultation fee. You will be informed of the extra charge when applicable.

Some services provided by the practice do not attract a Medicare rebate. Examples are outlined below. You will be informed of the charge for these services at the time of appointment.

There will be no out of pocket expenses for Immunisation appointments. If the vaccines are not provided as part of the standard immunisation schedule, you may be required to see you doctor first for a prescription to enable you to purchase the vaccine from a pharmacy. This applies particularly to travel immunisations. Yellow Fever vaccines will require special arrangements.

Consultation Type	Fee:	Medicare Rebate:	Gap Amount:
Standard	$75 (Pension $63)	$35.05	$25.95
Long	$115	$71.70	$43.30
ECG	$56.25	$31.25	$25
Women's Health Nurse	$30	$0	$30
Holter Monitor Fitting	$10	$0	$10
Dressings and Supplies	will be charged according to cost; usually $5 or $10
Plaster for fractures	$25 - $35
Health Assessments	for over 75 years and Chronic Disease Patients

What is the Medicare Rebate?
The Medicare rebate is the amount that is set under legislation by the Australian Government as a contribution to the cost of medical services provided by doctors registered in Australia. Since the beginning of Medicare in 1984, the Medicare rebate has not risen in line with the Consumer Price Index (CPI), and the amount of the rebate to patients is currently frozen until 2020. The Medicare rebate falls significantly short of the actual cost of providing quality medical services.

Services

General Medical Family Medicine
On call Service
Immunisations
Emergency Care
Women’s Health – advice and screening
Men’s Health – advice and screening
Post-Operative Follow Up
Home Care
Employment and insurance medicals
Life Style Consultation and Support with Nurse and GP
Skin Checks
Wound Management and Dressings
Management of Acute and Chronic Illness
Diabetes Education
Asthma Education
Health Assessments for 75 years and over
4 year old Health Check
Grief and Bereavement Counselling
Shared pregnancy care
Minor Surgical Procedures
Palliative Care in conjunction with local home-based health services
Hospital In The Home Service
Specialist and Allied Health Referrals
Spirometry
Cryotherapy (wart removal)
EGC

Telephone Policy

Patients are encouraged to phone the practice regarding urgent medical problems .

Emergencies

Cunninghame Arm Medical Centre is fully equipped to handle a full range of adult and paediatric emergencies

Appointments

Appointments can be made by telephoning during office hours. They can also be made online through our website 24 hours a day.
Patients are seen by appointment, except in the case of a medical emergency. There may be some delay with your appointment from time to time and our receptionists will keep you informed as to waiting time.

New Patients

New patients will be booked for a long consultation to enable a full history to be taken.

Longer Consultations

If you feel you need more time with your doctor or have more than one problem to discuss with them, you can request a double appointment when you are making your booking. Longer appointments are not available online. We encourage this to minimise waiting time to see the doctor.

Recall/Reminder System

Patients are placed on our recall/reminder system for follow ups, pap smears, skin checks, diabetes and other health issues.

Telehealth

Video reviews with specialists can be arranged upon request.

Medical Students

Cunninghame Arm Medical Centre hosts two 4th year medical students from Monash University. You may meet them from time to time working with the doctors and nurses in the practice.

Hospital in the Home

We are actively involved in the Hospital in the Home program supported by Bairnsdale Regional Health Service. This program enables patients to receive hospital standard care under the supervision of their GP for certain conditions, without being an in-patient at the hospital.

Home Care

The doctors are available to home visits in the case of emergency, for palliative and terminal care and other cases by arrangement.

On-Call Service

Cunninghame Arm Medical Centre offers an on-call service for emergencies until 9.00pm. Doctors can be contacted for emergencies by telephoning 5155 2300 and following the instructions in the message.

Prescription Requests

In most cases prescriptions will only be issued in consultation with the doctor. Remember to bring all script requests to your visit.

Infection Control

All needles and surgical instruments used in the practice are either disposable or sterilised by autoclaving for each and every patient.

Patient Confidentiality

In line with the National Privacy Principles your medical record is a confidential document. It is the policy of this practice to maintain security of person health information at all times and to ensre that this information is only available to authorised members of staff.

Your persona Health Information and your Medical Record may be collected, used and discoled for the following reasons:

For communicating relevant information with other treating doctors, specialist or allied health professionals.
For Follow up reminder/recall notices
Accounting/Medicare/Health Insurance procedures
Quality Assurance activities such as accreditation
For disease notification as required by law (eg . infectious diseases)
For use by all doctors in this practice when consulting with you
For legal related disclosure as required by a court of law (eg subpoena, court order, suspected child abuse)
For research purposes (de-identified, meaning you are not able to be identified from the information given)

If you have any concerns or wish to restrict access to your personal health information please discuss these with your doctor or receptionist. This practice adheres to the principles of the RACGP handbook for the Management of Health Information in Private Medical Practice as has a written policy, which is available to all patients for inspection.