Referral to Victorian Bone & Joint Specialists

How to visit us

The first step to having your condition assessed and treated by Victorian Bone & Joint Specialists is by being referred to our practice.

Who can refer me?

Many providers can refer to our practice. These can include:

  • Your GP

  • An in-hospital clinician

  • Other orthopaedic surgeons

If you would like to have the internationally trained orthopaedic specialists at Victorian Bone & Joint Specialists help you, ask for a referral from your provider.

What does my doctor have to do?

They can fill in a referral form on our website, contact us directly, or provide you with the completed referral.

What do I have to do?

If you provider has sent us the referral form directly, we will contact you to arrange a suitable time for our team of specialists to book your first appointment. Or, if you have the referral form yourself, then contact us to organise an appointment.

What are the costs of consultation?

There is universal health cover in Australia from Medicare. This means that all Australian residents are covered by the public health system.

The private health system offers the advantage of choosing your surgeon, reduced waiting periods and access to a greater choice of surgery that may not be available in the public sector. The disadvantage is the financial costs associated with surgery. Most doctors’ costs are paid for by Medicare and health insurance companies supplement a little to this. In fact most of your health insurance goes into paying for your hospital stay and not the doctor’s costs.

There are several costs when seeing a specialist surgeon:

  1. Initial Consultation Fee – $230

  2. Review Consultation Fee – $130 if you require further consultations

  3. Cost of Surgery – guided by the AMA (Australian Medical Association) fee schedule (see below).

What are the costs of surgery?

There are several costs to surgery. Most patients believe the bills they are paying are for the surgeons. In reality there are multiple providers who are sending out bills to the patients and the health insurance company:

  • Surgeon’s Fees – Our Surgeons typically bill a proportion of the AMA Fee or a “Known Gap” Fee – this is normally around $500 out of pocket

  • Assistants Fee(this is the doctor who assists the surgeon) – An assistant may charge a gap – typically no more than $100.

  • Hospital bed and Theatre costs– If you have private health insurance this is confined to your excess, but certain orthopaedic procedures are excluded from your policy and therefore need to be checked prior to booking in surgery.

  • Pathology and Radiology– These are blood tests and imaging taken during your inpatient stay that may also incur added costs.

  • Implants and Prosthesis– Most of these are covered by your insurance company, but once again it is important to check with them prior to the surgery

Most orthopaedic consultations and procedures are covered by Medicare item numbers.

What about TAC, Workcover, and WorkSafe consultations?

Our surgeons treat patients who have WorkCover and TAC claims. Our team routinely see patients with both acute trauma and fractures, as well as patients who require complex reconstructive surgery after the initial trauma has passed.

These injuries can be far more complex and difficult to manage than other injuries, as they often involve workplace issues around liability, return to work issues may have legal claims.

The staff at Victorian Bone & Joint Specialists are experienced at dealing with third party insurers, the surgical approvals process and the red tape that is involved with both TAC and WorkCover claims.  We can streamline this process for you, and work behind the scenes to ensure that you get the treatment that you are entitled to as quickly as possible.

If your care falls under WorkCover, TAC or other third party insurance, obtaining treatment through Victorian Bone & Joint Specialists involves three easy steps:

  1. Call for an appointment.

  2. Obtain a referral from your GP, hospital emergency doctor or other medical doctor.

  3. Notify your case manager as they will need to be involved in approving funding for any treatments.
    If this a new claim, please contact your employer to lodge a new WorkCover claim or the TAC (Transport Accident Commission) to commence a claim.

You will not incur any out of pocket costs for surgery, or medical expenses.