Fees
People with lymphoma, myeloma or leukaemia often have prolonged illness or prolonged treatment and require frequent admission to hospital either as a day patient or as an inpatient.
In recognition of the financial burden of these problems the Brisbane Clinic for Lymphoma, Myeloma and Leukaemia provides gap billing for patients admitted to Greenslopes Private Hospital, whether that is as an inpatient (overnight stay) or admitted to hospital as a day patient (for example for chemotherapy). This means that there are no out of pocket fees levied by us to the patient as we accept the reimbursement provided by medicare and your health fund. Although most of the doctors from other specialties to whom you may be referred have a similar policy we can not guarantee that all will do so. Therefore we strongly advise that prior to or during your first consultation with other specialists that you clarify their billing policy and whether you will have any out of pocket expenses.
Our initial consultations (unless this occurs as an inpatient) and follow up consultations (when you are not being admitted to the hospital) will attract a small out of pocket expense but the majority of our account will be covered by medicare, as long as you have a valid referral from your local doctor or other specialist.
You may be entitled to support for fees for our dietitian, exercise physiologist, psychologist from your health fund, medicare, aged care support or the NDIS. Please let us know if you are interested in a group session so you can get some of the benefits of a private consultation but at a reduced fee.
If you are concerned about your ability to cover out of pocket expenses please confirm our fees before you attend.
We aim to ensure that our clinic can provide you with the best, most up to date treatment and that this treatment is affordable. Therefore, if you have a limited budget (e.g. pensioner) or your financial circumstances change (e.g. loss of job) please discuss this with our practice manager.
All payments must be made on the day of consultation and can be by way of cash or credit card. There is an ATM in the reception area of Greenslopes Private Hospital that accepts most major cards for EFTPOS.
Costs of medications
In general the medications used to treat you are either directly funded through the PBS scheme or covered by your health fund if you are admitted to the hospital. Therefore, although there may be some drug costs this is unlikely to be substantial. In some uncommon circumstances new medications are not yet funded by the government. In this situation, we generally work with the pharmaceutical companies to obtain the medications at the lowest possible cost or in some cases at no cost on a compassionate basis. Alternatively, there may be a clinical trial available such that the medications are available at no cost whilst on the trial. However, there are times when the only way to access new medications is for you to pay for them. In these relatively unusual circumstances, the reasons for and against using the drug will be clearly discussed with you and the costs explained in detailed so you can make a careful decision before incurring the costs of the drugs. In all such cases, the alternative treatments will be discussed with you.
Costs of admission
If you have private health insurance the insurance company will generally cover all the costs of admission except for any up front excess that you have agreed to pay when selecting your level of cover. We advise that you clarify this with your health fund before your first visit to us or before your first planned admission to hospital. As described above, the medical fees that our clinic charges are entirely covered by the health funds. However, you should be aware that separate accounts involving out of pocket costs may be generated by other specialists who see you, the radiology company for scans and the pathology company that does blood tests, biopsies or other tests that are considered necessary for your management.