Opening Times

Monday to Friday 8:30am - 5:00pm

Saturdays + 2nd Sundays 9:00am - 12:00pm

Please note that exact times may vary, and we are closed on public holidays.

Our after-hours service is provided by CALMS (Canberra After Hours Locum Medical Service):  Ph 1300 422 567

Fees

We are a private billing practice and for most patients, a modest ‘gap’ or ‘out of pocket’ payment will apply. This is because Medicare has not kept pace with the cost of providing healthcare through the rebates provided to patients. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders will continue to be seen on Mondays to Fridays with no gap cost. Patients with cards such as Concession Cards or Health Care Cards may be eligible for a reduced rate ($85 standard consult, $145 long consult). Our regular consultation fees are as follows:

Our fees are competitive for Canberra and reflect the high-quality care and extra time we give to patients. If you have a chronic illness and are concerned about medical costs, you may qualify for a GP Management Plan (‘Care Plan’) - please discuss this with your doctor.

Weekend Clinics

Saturday Clinics: The cost of a standard 15-minute consult on Saturday is $130 with a $42.85 Medicare rebate.

Sunday Clinics: The cost of a standard 15-minute consult on Sunday is $160 with an after-hours Medicare rebate of $55.80.

Telehealth

Telehealth is now a permanent feature of healthcare. A phone or video consultation allows you to maintain social distancing and saves time, worry and travel. To maximise your safety during the respiratory virus season, patients are encouraged to use this service wherever possible. Medicare-subsidised Telehealth is available to patients who have an existing relationship with the practice and have had at least one visit in the preceding 12 months. Regular billing policy applies to Telehealth and face-to-face consultations.

New Patients

To keep up with our existing patient load, we are currently not taking on new patients.

Payment

The practice does not operate on credit and patients are requested to pay on the day of the consultation. We accept cash, EFTPOS and *credit cards (*surcharges do apply).

Workers Compensation and Third Party Insurance claims sit outside of the Medicare system - payment is required upfront at the time of consultation and can then be claimed back from insurers by the patient. Our Doctors are under no obligation to see patients regarding Worker’s Compensation or insurance claims; if you have such an issue, please ring the practice to discuss your request for an appointment.

Cancellation or Non-Attendance Fee

A normal consultation fee will be charged by the practice for appointments not kept unless at least 4 hours prior notice has been given. This will be strictly applied on behalf of GPs because a missed appointment deprives another patient of a potential appointment.

If you are late to your appointment, you may not be seen and may be charged a standard consultation fee for missing that appointment.

Why is there a gap or out-of-pocket fee?

First a few facts: Medicare rebates are an amount paid by the Australian Government to patients to subsidise them to see their General Practitioner (GP). Bulk billing is where a GP accepts your Medicare rebate as payment in full for the service they provide.

GPs are specialist primary care doctors who have gone through extensive training, first in hospital and then in the community, to become Fellows of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners. They are not salaried by Government or Medicare and do not receive benefits such as annual leave, sick leave or superannuation. Only around 13% of junior doctors now choose to go into General Practice, whereas it used to be around 50%. A large shortfall is looming as older GPs retire.

The fees paid by patients provides Doctors with income to live and for the practice to run. Fees must cover the costs of employing practice staff such as receptionists and practice nurses, as well as medical equipment, electricity, rent and insurance and registration. Practice costs have been rising by 3-6% per year whereas Medicare rebates grew by only around 1% each year between 2010 and 2020. In fact, rebates were completely frozen (did not receive an annual indexation increase) between 2014 and 2018.

The Medicare rebates alone do not come anywhere near the cost of providing a high-quality primary care medical service. Even with the triple bulk-billing incentive available from 1 November to limited patients, the Medicare subsidy remains grossly inadequate.

Practices have tried to absorb these rising costs over recent years however the situation has become untenable. Around Australia, the average out-of-pocket cost for patients is now higher than the Medicare rebate for a standard GP consultation. Continuing to under-invest in primary care will lead to the collapse of the health system as a whole.

This is why we must now charge a gap fee to patients. If your GP agrees to a discounted fee or bulk bills you, they are effectively taking an income cut to subsidise your care and the practice risks running at a loss for that consultation.

In the absence of proper investment in primary care and with inflation running at around 6%, our fee structure will be adjusted if and when required in order to maintain practice viability.

If you are unhappy with paying a gap fee, please re-read the reasons listed above. When paying your fee, rest assured that Medicare will pay your rebate back into your bank account within 24 hours, so we hope that any inconvenience is kept to a minimum. Any abuse of reception staff or the medical team will not be tolerated.

The Future: My Medicare

It remains to be seen how Government proposals such as My Medicare and Voluntary Patient Registration (VPR) will affect primary care. If you do consider Watson General Practice as your preferred home practice, we thank you and welcome you. If so, please nominate your preferred GP and WGP as your general practice. You can do this on MyGov online or the Medicare Express phone app.

General Practices already pay State and Territory Payroll Tax on their employed staff (administration, nursing and GP Registrars). The new interpretation to extend payroll tax to include GP revenue will force more fee increases if practices are liable. Some practices may close as a result. As a society we cannot afford to allow primary care to wither and die - the costs of this would be much greater.

If you are concerned about primary healthcare reform and funding, we encourage you to voice your concerns with your local member, the Prime Minister and the Minister for Health & Aged Care. On the spectre of payroll tax which also threatens general practice viability, please write to the ACT Chief Minister and Treasurer and the ACT Minister for Health.