SURGEON – Initial consultation Mr Kiron Bhatia (Surgeon) – $ 200.00 or $160 with concession or pension card.
The surgical and physician fees are partially rebatable through Medicare. Approximately $75 back from Medicare.
Private health funds do not cover the costs of consultations with a surgeon.
DIETITIAN – Initial consultation – $150.00
Dietitian fees are not rebatable through Medicare. Depending on your insurance policy you may be eligible for a partial rebate from your health fund.
Rebates may be available through your health fund.
PSYCHOLOGIST – Initial consultation – $190.00
This consultation is primarily for the purpose of ensuring our team is aware of any psychological concerns that may impact upon surgery for weight loss and / or behavioural/lifestyle changes necessary for positive outcomes.
Rebates may be available through your health fund.
For insured patients requiring Gastroscopy, Colonoscopy or Cancer related surgery, Mr Bhatia will directly bill your health fund where possible with no further out of pocket cost.
For all other insured General Surgical patients, Mr Bhatia will directly bill your health fund where possible. An out of pocket fee may be payable prior to surgery. For further information on these fees please contact our rooms directly on 94576690. Please note there is no out of pocket fee for DVA and concession card holders.
For uninsured General Surgical patients we will provide you with an invoice specific to your procedure.
This fee is different for insured and uninsured patients.
if you have private health insurance Mr Bhatia, our anaesthetist and assistant will directly bill your Private Health Fund.
The hospital will directly bill your health fund for hospital costs. If you have an excess with your health insurance this will need to be paid directly to the hospital on admission
The remainder Program Fee fee is a one off payment that covers your care through HWLS which includes:
- Surgical gap
- Anaesthetic gap
- Assistant gap
- All appointments with Mr Bhatia following surgery will be bulk billed
- 2 post operative dietetic reviews
- 2 post operative psychology review
- Having paid this fee you will not receive invoices from medical staff related to the surgery.
It is important to note that this fee does NOT cover:
- Hospital costs not covered by your private health fund ie. Robotic consumables
- Pathology, radiology or other investigative items not covered by your health fund
- Physiotherapy not covered by your health fund
- Specialist fees where the specialist is not directly related to HWLS
- Special post-operative events such as workshops, support groups etc.
ARE YOU COVERED FOR BARIATRIC SURGERY?
It is important that you check with your health fund and ensure you are covered for the appropriate procedure. We recommend you contact your health fund and ask if you are covered for the following specific item numbers:
- The Laparoscopic Gastric Band item number is 31569.
- The Laparoscopic Sleeve Gastrectomy item number is 31575.
- The Gastric Bypass item number is 31572.
BARIATRIC PROCEDURES NOT COVERED UNDER PRIVATE HEALTH INSURANCE
At Heidelberg Weight Loss Surgery there are some procedures completed by Mr Kiron Bhatia that do not currently have an item number attached. These include:
The Endoscopic Sleeve Gastroscopy
The Gastric Balloon
If you would like an approximate quote for these procedures please contact our rooms on 94576690
As we are unable to bill a private health fund for part of your fee, the amount as an uninsured patient is higher for Mr Bhatia’s services. This Out of Pocket fee is a one off payment that covers your care through HWLS which includes:
- Surgical fee
- Assistant fee
- All appointments with Mr Bhatia following surgery will be bulk billed
- 2 post operative dietetic reviews
- 2 post operative psychology reviews
- Having paid this fee you will not receive invoices from medical staff related to the surgery.
It is important to note that this fee does NOT cover:
- Anaesthetist cost. Your anaesthetist will provide you with a quote for their services which needs to be paid prior to surgery. and assistant will directly bill your Private Health Fund.
- Hospital costs. We will obtain an estimate from your hospital on your behalf. This will need to be paid to the hospital on admission.
- Pathology, radiology or other investigative items not covered by your hospital costs.
- Specialist fees where the specialist is not directly related to HWLS
- Special post-operative events such as workshops, support groups etc.
It is important to understand that if complications occur or prolonged stay in hospital is required, this will incur further costs payable by you. Hence if your surgery is considered high risk we would strongly recommend you consider insurance and wait the qualifying period
It is important that you understand that if you were to require future hospitalisation or surgery, you would be liable for all hospital, pathology, radiology, consultation and service fees. We do not however, charge the program fee again.
An estimate for total costs including hospital and band prosthesis can be provided at your request.
We do not offer any form of payment plan, we can however refer you to MACCREDIT at www.maccredit.com.au who offer patient finance plans for medical and surgery requirements.
If you would like to access your superannuation to pay for your surgery we can assist by providing documentation to support the claim as is reasonable and defensible on medical grounds.
A date of surgery will not be determined until documentation is provided with approval of fund release.