Anaesthetic fees are separate to those charged by the Surgeon and the Hospital.  Each anaesthetist is an independent practitioner and set their own fees, independent of other health professionals. The Australian Medical Association (AMA) and Australian Society of Anaesthetists (ASA) prepare a list of medical services and fees for private patient anaesthesia services, and index this each year. Most anaesthetists base their charges on this indexed list of services. At Canterbury Anaesthetics, most of our Members fees are well below the limits as recommended by the AMA and the ASA. Patients with a Medicare card and/or private health insurance may be eligible to claim benefits for the services rendered.

The benefits you receive from Medicare are based on a schedule of fees (also known as the Medicare Benefits Schedule) for medical services set by the Australian Government. The MBS lists a wide range of anaesthetic item numbers, and the Schedule Fee for each of these items.

The Schedule Fee is the amount the Government considers appropriate for one of these services.
For services provided in a private hospital, Medicare will rebate 75% of the Schedule fee.  Your health fund will rebate the further 25%. The AMA/ASA schedule fee is considered fair value by the Australian Society of Anaesthetists and reflects the original Medicare fee indexed with inflation. However, the actual Medicare rebate and health fund rebates have not been increased in line leading to a difference in fees paid by Medicare and the health funds. This has lead almost all private practitioners charge above the Schedule fee, so you will often have to pay a gap payment or an out-of-pocket fee.