Fees are to be fully paid at the time of consultation.
For Department of Veteran Affairs (DVA) card holders, we accept DVA payments.
Out of Pocket expenses (GAP fees)
There is an out of pocket expense which is included in the consultation fee. (Click here to find out our gap prices) According to Medicare, it is up to the discretion of each health professional as to how much gap they charge patients. At Better Health Nutrition & Fitness, some of our fees are well below the industry standards to ensure that patients that need our service the most can afford it (For patients referred on the Chronic Disease Medicare Plan, please click on this link to see our prices).
You may not have realised that after the 1:1 consultation with you, our professional team will spend additional time, taking care of you. They write reports, prepare letters to the referring GP and other health care professionals involved in your care. They liaise with other services when necessary, and answer telephone calls about your well being. Managing all these services for you is included in the consultation fee. This way the quality of care received by you is assured at every step by our team. This is what a GAP payment is put towards
Processing your Medicare refunds to your own account
The Practice has the "Medicare Easy Claim" facility where once you have paid the full amount for your consultation, our staff can transfer your Medicare rebates to your saving account immediately at the practice. You get your rebate straight away. The full amount can be paid by using the following methods:
Master Card
Visa Card
Bank card
Cash
Fees that are covered by Medicare
Any person that is referred on the Chronic Disease Management Program (CDMC) formerly known as the Enhanced Primary Care Plan (EPC). This is a special referral program for individuals suffering from a chronic health condition. To read more information on the CDMC and if you are eligible click on this link.
Appointment cancellation policy
Why is it necessary for us to introduce a cancellation policy? At Better Health Nutrition & Fitness we endeavour to provide a service that is low cost so we can allow those that can't usually afford specialist services to be able to see an Allied Health Professional for their health conditions. What we have found is that with a low cost service, quite often individuals don't value these appointments and often cancel or don't show up. Therefore we have had to enforce a cancellation policy.
Our professionals can only serve a limited number of patients/day and generally vary between 8 – 11 patients/day. When an appointment is scheduled for you, that time has been set aside for you and when it is missed, that time cannot be used to treat another patient who really wishes to see our professionals. Failure to comply with the scheduled appointment (no show) or failure to cancel the appointment with adequate notice (no call) will incur a cancellation fee.
If you do not show up for your appointment, or notify us of your inability to keep your appointment at least 24 hours before your scheduled appointment, the time that has been allocated for your visit cannot be used to treat another patient and is time lost to another patient who is waiting on the waiting list due to no appointments.
The necessity of rescheduling the missed appointment for you also ties up future appointments, further diminishing the availability of health care for others.
When does the cancellation fee apply? You must notify our office at least 24 hours before your scheduled appointment in the event that you need to reschedule your appointment with your allied health professionals. If you cancel your appointment with less than 24 hours notice, a cancellation fee of $30.00 will apply to cover the basic administration costs.
What happens if you are someone who cancels appointments repeatedly? There are a small number of patients who fail to attend their appointments repeatedly without cancelling. If a patient accumulates a total of three (3) missed appointments, we are still happy to provide an appointment provided that you are happy to pay the full fee in advance. If you do not attend despite paying for the appointment, there is no refund. However, if you attend the appointment, we will issue an invoice for you to claim the money from Medicare.
What will we do with the patients who do not attend appointments? The patient will be sent a letter informing the fact that they have failed to show up for an appointment and did not cancel the appointment with 24 hours notice together with the invoice. A copy of the letter will be placed in the patient’s file. In the event that account is not settled within 7 days, the practice will refer the matter to the debit collector.
What will we do to help you? As a courtesy, we make reminder calls (telephone/SMS/e-mail) for appointments. If you do not receive your reminder call or message, the cancellation policy will still remain in effect.
If you have any questions regarding this policy, please contact the practice manger or forward your query to this office by telephone or e-mail.
PLEASE NOTE Our practices aim to provide the best possible care for you with modern facilities and excellent professional services. As a private health care provider we do not receive any government grants and yet we need to run an efficient as well as compassionate service to our patients. You may agree with us that administering a policy, which is universally fair, is the best way to keep the costs at minimum for all.
