Fees and Rebates

– What you can and can’t claim

How is Healthfocus funded?

Healthfocus is a private clinical psychology practice, therefore we are funded through patients paying fees. We also receive referrals through workers’ compensation and motor vehicle claims and in these instances the insurer pays for sessions.

What are the fees payable?

The standard fee payable on the day of consult is $227.85 before any rebates (see below) for a 50-60 minute consultation.

Workers compensation and motor vehicle accident patients are charged to the insurer at the Workcover/Riskcover rates (currently $268.25) if a claim has been approved, or the insurer has approved funding for treatment on a “without prejudice” basis while a claim is being assessed. Until insurer funding is approved, the client has a responsibility for settling fees. In some instances, a GP Mental Health Care Plan may be appropriate until insurer approval is secured.

Medicolegal reports are undertaken at the Australian Psychological Society’s prevailing rate of $300.00 plus GST.

What rebates are available through Medicare?

Our Clinical Psychologists are AHPRA endorsed to practice in Clinical Psychology. As well as receiving therapy from more qualified practitioners, you will be able to claim a higher Medicare rebate than when attending a psychologist with general registration.

A Medicare rebate of $136.35 can be obtained by seeing your General Practitioner (or psychiatrist or paediatrician) and asking them to complete a GP Mental Health Care Plan (GPMHCP), leaving a gap of $88.00. To be eligible for the GPMHCP your GP must assess that you are suffering with a mental health problem (e.g. depression, anxiety, trauma and other stress-related conditions) and complete the GPMHCP paperwork before you attend a Healthfocus session (See GP Information).

Medicare requires that the full fee of $227.85 is paid in full by the client before the Medicare Rebate can be claimed. Healthfocus has Medicare EasyClaim eClaiming facilities onsite and customers can claim their Medicare Rebate immediately, which are nearly instantly paid into a savings or cheque account linked to an EFTPOS card.

Out-of-pocket expense after the Medicare rebates

The out-of-pocket expense after the Medicare rebate is $91.50.

How many Medicare subsidised sessions can I use in a year?

Medicare allow for 10 rebated sessions in a calendar year (from the 1st January to the 31st December each year). Medicare requires that you see your GP every six sessions for a review to continue being eligible for sessions.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Commonwealth Government has made available an additional 10 sessions of treatment per annum available.

I have private health cover: Can I receive a rebate for psychological treatment?

All of our Clinical Psychologists are six-year university trained, which means that if you have private insurance that offers cover for psychological services, you will usually be able to seek a rebate from your health insurer.

However, Medicare does not allow that you can claim from both Medicare and your private health insurer at the same time. Often the Medicare rebate is higher than what is available on private insurance, so most patients prefer to use their annual sessions under Medicare and then use their rebate under private insurance.

Most private health covers include psychological treatment and provide a rebate which depends on your premium level. It is advisable to check with your health insurer as to whether your specific policy covers psychological treatment.

I am on a workers’ compensation claim/ motor vehicle claim: Am I eligible for receiving funding through the insurer?

The workers’ compensation system and the motor vehicle claims systems have provisions to pay for medical expenses which include psychological treatment. This may be because the injury itself has been difficult to cope with, or because the reason for the claim is stress-related. Funding approval for such treatment is at the discretion of the insurer.

How do I proceed with psychological treatment under the workers’ compensation claim / motor vehicle claim?

Contact our office directly and we will seek approval from the insurer on your behalf. A referral from your treating General Practitioner is often required by the insurer to show that the reason for attending is related to your claim.

A representative of the insurer will be asked to sign a written approval form to confirm that they agree to fund your sessions.

In situations where the insurer has not agreed to provide funding for an open claim, the client is responsible for settling fees. Sometimes, a GP Mental Health Care Plan is appropriate in these cases.

In special circumstances, Healthfocus sometimes does offer to provide psychological treatment on the agreement that settlement of fees occurs when the claim is settled or approved in the future.

The workers’ compensation fee and motor vehicle claim fee is $268.25.

After hours fee

Appointments commencing 5pm or later are subject to a $5.50 additional fee.

Cancellation fees

Patients are generally contacted the day before their appointment to confirm their appointment. Where patients do not give 24 hours’ notice for not attending an appointment a cancellation fee of $91.50 is charged to the patient.

Credit/Debit card payment fees

Payments made by credit cards (VISA, MasterCard, AMEX) are subject to a $2.00 card payment fee.

Payments made by debit cards (VISA, MasterCard), including prepaid cards and PayPass/PayWave are subject to a $1.00 card payment fee.

EFTPOS (Savings or Cheque) account payments are exempt of card payment fees.