Referral requirements
To make a Medicare claim, a valid referral is required. A valid referral can be for 12 months from your General Practitioner or 3 months from your specialist. If you have no valid referral or valid Medicare card at the time of your appointment you will be liable for the entire payment of services.
Appointments
Booking an appointment is made by contacting the clinic once the patient has a valid referral. If the appointment is urgent, the referring physician can call the clinic on the patients’ behalf and request an urgent review.
It may be requested that a referral be faxed through to the clinic in order for our Cardiologist to assess the urgency and make arrangements for an urgent appointment.
Attending the appointment
To help your appointment run efficiently, it is important that:
The Canberra Heart Rhythm has or you bring in a valid referral. This allows the Cardiologist to have an informed history and allows the patient to receive rebates from Medicare. If it is your first appointment you will be asked to complete a patient information sheet. You can download this prior to your appointment and bring in the completed form at the time of your appointment.
It is important that you bring your Medicare and concession cards in order for correct billing and to receive rebates from Medicare. Please ensure that you provide your Cardiologist with your current medications, if it is easier you could provide a list or bring your medications with you.
New patients
If it is your first time to the clinic, you will need to organise to have your GP referral sent to the clinic via fax or email for triage. Our lovely administration staff will then contact you to schedule the necessary appointments during the best suited time for you. You will undergo multiple investigations prior to seeing our cardiologist as we have found this system makes the first assessment most worthwhile and improves overall patient care.
Test results
Test results will generally not be given over the telephone. This is to ensure adequate follow-up care in response to the results. These should be followed up with your GP or when you attend the next appointment at the Canberra Heart Rhythm. Test results cannot be released directly to patients, however they can be sent to other medical practiotioners at the request of the patient.
Scripts
Repeat scripts are usually provided during your ongoing follow-up with your GP or at your next appointment with the Cardiologist. If you request a script, in-between appointments may incur a fee.
Personal information
Patient information collected by Canberra Heart Rhythm is accessible only to our staff and allied health practitioners and will not be released to third parties without your consent. Please refer to our privacy statement for more details.
Accounts
You will be asked to settle your account on the day of your appointment. You may make your payment by cash, credit card or EFTPOS. We can then submit the claim to Medicare on your behalf and you will be reimbursed directly from Medicare either by cheque or by direct payment into your nominated bank account. Please inform our staff if you have any concession cards, as concession rates are available.
We take pride in the services we offer and welcome any comments. Please feel free to discuss any suggestions and concerns you may have with our staff.