There are multiple costs involved in your admission to hospital. These include:
- Hospital costs
- Costs from health care providers
- Medication costs
Hospital costs
Your hospital costs include those associated with your hospital stay, including accommodation, theatre fees, and any prostheses (artificial replacement of body parts). You can find out the estimated cost of your hospital stay before you arrive by speaking to your doctor.
For hospital costs, we will submit a claim to your health fund (if you have one) on your behalf. You will, however, be required to cover any excess costs or co-payment. This is the portion of the estimated hospital expenses that are not covered by your health fund, and which you will need to pay before your admission to hospital.
Costs from health care providers
In addition to the fees charged by the hospital, you may receive separate accounts from the other health care providers involved in your care. These may include:
- Your surgeon
- Your anaesthetist
- The surgical assistant
- Other consultants
- Pathology companies
- Medical imaging
- Allied health professionals (such as physiotherapists)
- The hospital pharmacy
If you have private health insurance cover, we recommend that you contact your insurer to find out what your policy covers and if you will need to pay an excess or co-payment.
For some hospitals you may need to submit these separate accounts to Medicare and your private health fund.
Medication costs
You may require medication/s when being admitted to hospital.
All medications prescribed during your stay are included in your hospital costs, except for non-PBS high cost medications. You may be charged for these if they are not covered by your health fund.
You must pay separately for all medications prescribed before your hospital admission or after you leave hospital. Please speak to your doctor or pharmacist if you have any queries.
If you hold any type of concession card, please bring this with you to help keep any medication costs to a minimum.
Non-health fund patients
If you do not have private health insurance and intend to pay the full cost of your hospital stay, we will provide you with an estimate of your hospital costs. This will include your hospital stay and procedure only. You will need to speak to your doctor and all others involved in your care for a complete overview of their costs.
You will need to pay all hospital costs before your hospital admission. We reserve the right to refuse admission if your payment is not received.
The Estimate of Expenses will be based on the item numbers / type of procedures and any prostheses required for surgery.
If your surgeon requires any additional prostheses or the item numbers / type of procedure changes, there may be additional fees that are payable prior to discharge. Change to item numbers can alter the fees significantly.
Overseas insured
Patients who are covered by an international insurance fund with whom the hospital has an agreement will be required to provide an approval prior to admission.
All other patients covered by non-contracted international insurance funds will be required to pay in full prior to or on admission.
WorkSafe/third party claims
If you have a compensation claim, such as WorkSafe or a third-party claim, please confirm with your Case Manager or insurance company that they will cover the cost of your hospital admission.
You’ll need a written approval from the WorkCover insurer or third-party insurer prior to your admission.
How to pay
On admission day you can pay your hospital fees using:
- Major credit cards (except Diners and American Express)
- EFTPOS
- Bank cheques
Please check with your relevant hospital for applicable transaction fees on payment methods.
We’ll take an imprint of your credit card at admission to cover any incidentals or other items not covered by your private health fund. The imprint will be held securely until your account has been finalised when you leave hospital.
Payment options may differ at each site and get in touch to find out more.
