Accounts and Fees

Anaesthetic fees are based on the Commonwealth Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) and the Australian Society of Anaesthesia (ASA) relative value guide (RVG). The anaesthetic fee is separate from the fees charged by any other doctors or the hospital/health facility where your procedure will be performed.

Anaesthesia fees are determined by a number of factors:

  • Nature, complexity and time of the procedure
  • Duration of procedure
  • Patient's age
  • Post operative care requirements
  • Medical co-morbidities
  • Applicable item numbers
  • Health fund arrangements

The MBS payments have not kept pace with inflation for many years. Similarly, with the rebates from many private health insurance funds. Therefore, some anaesthetists charge an out of pocket expense (gap, co payment) to cover the shortfall of running their practice. See below links for more information.

For patients eligible for medicare benefits with covered private health insurance, Dr Hunt is no-gap provider for Ophthalmology / Eye procedures including cataracts. 

For patients eligible for medicare benefits with covered HBF private health insurance, Dr Hunt is no-gap provider for all procedures.

For approved Veterans' Affairs and Workers Compensation procedures Dr Hunt is a no-gap provider.

Other patients may incur a gap. Dr Hunt charges substantially less than the AMA recommended fees to reduce out of pocket expenses to a minimum. Some patients may need to make a pre-payment before the procedure based on an estimated cost.

Dr Hunt does not deal with billing directly in order to focus on patient care.

If you would like a quote or estimate, please contact Carolyn Murphy.

It is important for patients to understand that a significant portion of their anaesthetic fee is based on how long your procedure actually takes. Although every effort is made to provide an accurate estimate of your surgery time, often the actual time required for your surgery differs from the estimate.Therefore your final anaesthetic fee may differ from the inititial estimate provided.

For more information:

The Australian Society of Anaesthetists (ASA) has created an information sheet explaining out of pocket expenses. Click Here to Open Link

Choice Australia has reviewed this subject which is worth reading to understand the topic. Click Here to Open Link