We write to update our patients and inform you on our position on how the clinic will be handling outstanding patient debt and to address some of the negative comments made online regarding fees.
Our ethos at Northside Clinic has from the beginning, been about accessibility and providing high quality healthcare for all members of the community. However, like a lot of businesses, we are facing a potentially financially turbulent period, and cannot continue to operate at 2020 prices when we have 2025 expenses.
We have unfortunately had to make the difficult decision to stop routinely Bulk Billing Concession Card holders with the introduction of a Concessional fee, and we have also had to implement regular fee increases.
Neither of those decisions were done on a whim.
Our aim is to provide a high level of care to all our patients, and that needs to be balanced with retaining the highly skilled doctors who consult here at Northside Clinic.
GPs are not immune to the pinch of the rising costs of living. When compared to other Specialist areas, GPs earn significantly less.
Perhaps what people do not realise is that GPs are contractors and are therefore required to pay the clinic for utilising the rooms, the administration staff, the nursing staff, the treatment room materials. They also need to pay themselves and contribute to their superannuation from what they earn. They do not get paid sick leave or annual leave. When they don’t work, they don’t get paid. If patients don’t pay a gap fee for their appointments, doctors receive a much lower payment, and the clinic receives even less.
Since the clinic has made changes to our billing policy and increased fees, we have received a lot of feedback about the clinic being money hungry and going for cash grabs.
During a time when we are trying our best to keep our services accessible and affordable, we are experiencing what we can only refer to as a disappointing response. People have been very happy to come here for exceptional service when they didn’t have to pay, then at a time of need when we ask some of you to now pay for that service, it feels like some of our loyal patients are turning on us.
If you are a patient, you would know that we are humble in what we do, we prioritise our patients and our contracting Dr’s echo our ethos.
If you are no longer happy to attend the clinic and pay for your service, you are more than welcome to attend another clinic. Our Doctors are human, and they will understand your individual situation if you are struggling financially, however if you are charged for a service, please respect that and settle your account on the day.
From the inception of the clinic, we have always required your account to be settled on the day of your appointment, this is not a new requirement. To assist you in being able to pay on the day, we implemented changes to now offer your rebate be paid back to your debit card at the time of payment. We have also engaged service providers who offer online payments to allow automatic payment of your account on the day of service, if you have chosen to record your card details with that provider.
However, some patients have not paid on the day and we continue to experience people walking out of the clinic without paying and ignoring the calls from the clinic to take payment for the service your Doctor has provided you. Due to a large amount of unpaid patient debt, we are needing to address this and will be implementing the following policy. Any unpaid patient account that is outstanding for 3 months, will result in you no longer being able to book an appointment at the clinic. This is in effect from 1st December 2024.
Medicare has a small window for the submission of patient activity. We need to report this activity and if we are required to write off your unpaid service, then you are not welcome back.
You will receive multiple reminders to pay your account including the clinic staff phoning you, SMS reminders to please contact the clinic to settle your account, and also email correspondence requesting you contact the clinic to settle your account. We ask that if you are experiencing financial difficulties that you contact the clinic and not ignore our attempts in contacting you. It is the responsibility of the patient to ensure that their contact details are up to date, as we will be sending our contact attempts via the contact details we have for you, that were confirmed at your last appointment.
If our attempts to seek payment for your service goes unanswered, you will no longer be able to book an appointment at Northside Clinic.
This may feel like an extreme measure, however, we cannot continue to carry the debt of unpaid patient accounts.
We do appreciate the continued support of dedicated patients, and we implore you to please provide feedback to your local and state MP and health ministers, to help General Practice fight for better Medicare rebates and funding.
Victorian Minister of Health
Phone: (03) 9096 8561
Email: minister.health@health.vic.gov.au
Address: Level 22 50 Lonsdale Street Melbourne VIC 3000.
Contact Ministers at Department of Health and Aged Care
https://www.health.gov.au/contact-a-minister