Fees

Anaesthetists are specialist Doctors and they are not paid by the hospital or surgeon to provide this service. Each Anaesthetist sets their own fees using the AMA fees as a guide (see details below) and taking into account all of the following:

• Pre-operative assessment – this is where your Anaesthetist finds out about your health and previous anaesthetics, tells you what to expect and highlights any relevant risks, based on this assessment they decide what kind of anaesthetic you need.
• Medical risks – extra fees are charged to patients with higher medical risks e.g. age, obesity, emergency and after hours surgery.
• Procedure - fees will vary depending on the risk and complexity of the anaesthetic needed.
• Time - how long the surgery takes affects the final bill as anaesthetics need to be given continuously for the whole operation, requiring the Anaesthetist to be present also. The fee is then affected by the total time the operation takes including the time for getting you off to sleep and waking you up.

The Australian Medical Association (AMA) and Australian Society of Anaesthetists (ASA) prepare a list of medical services and fees for private patient anaesthesia services, and index this each year. These fees are carefully calculated using the AMA's Medical Fees Index to reflect the actual dollar value of the service provided. Most Anaesthetists base their fees on this. In most instances Dr Leggett’s fees are approximately 75% of the AMA/ASA recommended fee. This concession is made to reduce the out of pocket expenses that patients will incur.

The Gap

Medicare and the health funds contribution to this fee is called the 'Schedule' fee, this does not cover the total amount of the Anaesthetist’s fee so there is a gap between the schedule fee and actual fee charged. “Out of pocket" or "gap" expenses occur because the Commonwealth Government sets the scheduled fee and rebates within the constraints of its budget, as the maximum benefit it allows you to receive. Therefore these 'schedule' fees are not accurately indexed which is why they are not in line with the true medical costs.

Australian government pensioners will be offered significant discounts to reduce their out of pocket expenses. Please discuss this with Dr Leggett if you are eligible for consideration.

Most private health funds accept that the fees for anaesthesia will be higher than the Commonwealth Schedule Fee and will pay you a higher rebate to reduce your “gap” if the anaesthetist agrees to use the funds “known gap” provisions. In this case Dr Leggett will agree to send a ‘known gap’ account directly to your private fund (who will also claim from Medicare on your behalf) and you will receive an account from Dr Leggett for the reduced balance or ‘gap’ only. Unfortunately the BUPA Funds (HBA, AXA), GMF,HBF, St Lukes, HCF, MBF and NIB do not allow this, resulting in larger ‘gaps’ to pay.

See list for known gap funds.

As medicare and fund item numbers for anaesthesia include a specific time item number, and times may vary even for the same procedure, it is only possible to give an estimate of the likely fee. This estimate may vary from the actual fee charged.