I am not paid by the hospital and there are out of pocket costs (also called a 'gap' fee) associated with my care of your baby. An invoice for my services will be emailed to you after your baby is discharged home.
My fees are detailed below. The total cost of my service varies depending on the circumstances and timing of your baby's birth - out of hours and emergency attendances are associated with higher fees, as I will have been called in from home or my consulting rooms to attend to your baby.
You can claim the Medicare benefit component of my fees once your baby has been added to your Medicare card. Your health fund will not contribute to the gap fee if your baby remains on the postnatal ward as the baby is considered an outpatient of the hospital. If you have reached your safety net for this calendar year, Medicare will refund 80% of the gap fee (up to a safety net cap) for these outpatient services.
If your baby is admitted to Special Care Nursery, or receives phototherapy for jaundice on the postnatal ward with you, both Medicare and your health fund will contribute to the gap fee.
Initial Attendance Fee:
Subsequent Attendance Fees:
Following the initial visit, I will come and check on your baby each day during your hospital stay (unless you and your baby are well enough to be transferred to the Park Hyatt); this is to check for jaundice and to work with the midwifery staff on your baby's feeding plan. If I am away or unavailable, one of my colleagues will be covering for me and will visit instead but you will only receive a single invoice from our practice no matter how many of our doctors have been involved.
There will not be a charge for each follow-up visit. I charge $275 for your baby's discharge check (performed the day before you go home), and on other occasions when there is a full clinical review. There is no gap fee for other visits. A Medicare rebate of $67.80 is available for each charged visit (increasing to $233 if you have reached the safety net).
Hospital fees are more expensive than visits to a specialist in their consulting rooms. My colleagues and I provide a 24 hour service taking calls from the midwifery staff if they are concerned about your baby, or attending in person if there is an emergency. There is no separate cost for this around the clock medical cover for your baby; it is factored into my overall fee.
Most babies won't need any further follow-up with me after discharge but all babies need a check at six weeks of age - this should be performed by your local GP. I will let you know if you need to bring your baby back to my consulting rooms to see me for a further review. If your baby does needs to come back to see me again, this is associated with a separate fee (more information will be provided to you at the time of making the appointment).
If there are any concerns about your baby at any time once you go home from hospital, please don't hesitate to get in touch with me.