Anaesthetic Fees

Before you go into hospital for any proposed treatment as a private patient, it's your right to ask your doctor about his or her fees and to find out about the fees of other doctors who might be involved in your care. Wherever possible you should contact us to obtain an estimate of the anaesthesia fees, prior to your procedure. This information will allow you to enquire from your health fund about the level of benefits available to you. If you have concerns about this estimated fee you should discuss them with your anaesthetist prior to your anaesthesia.

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Your anaesthetist is specialist doctor in their own right, and is not employed by either the hospital you are admitted to, or your surgeon. As such, a fee will be levied for any services he/she performs, which will be separate from any you may receive from the hospital or surgeon. All anaesthetists are independent doctors and are required by law to set their own fees for their specialist services.

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Anaesthetists determine their fees in accordance with the Relative Value Guide (RVG) produced by the Australian Society of Anaesthetists (ASA) and the Australian Medical Association (AMA). This guide determines the value of the anaesthetic services based on your age, physical health, whether in-hours or out-of-hours, the nature, complexity and duration of the operation and whether any other associated consultations or interventions are required. These fees are set as a suggested maximum rate. Generally speaking, your fee from most anaesthetists will be less than the AMA suggested fee. You will receive a rebate from Medicare, and your Health Fund, however, these rebates frequently do not cover the true cost of your anaesthetic services, and there will usually be a shortfall ("the gap" or "out of pocket amount") that you will be required to pay yourself. It is your responsibility to pay to your anaesthetist any gap amount (in addition to your Medicare and private health fund rebates). The size of this ‘gap’ varies and depends mostly on your fund and occasionally your level of cover. Having ‘top cover’ with a fund generally means you have access to a greater number of procedures but does not alter the ‘gap’ payed to doctors.

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“Out of pocket” or “gap” expenses occur because the Government has not indexed Medicare rebates adequately for the past 25 years. Government legislated rebates from Medicare and Private Health Funds have failed to increase in line with medical practice costs (especially compulsory Medical Indemnity Insurance, staff salaries and inflation) since the very beginning of Medicare. Nor have they kept up with increases in Average Weekly Earnings or the Consumer Price Index. Medicare rebates for anaesthesia are approximately equal to only one third of the rebates for the corresponding surgical operation.

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It is not possible to provide an exact gap prior to the procedure. We can provide an estimate of the fee for anaesthetic services associated with your operation or procedure, however this is an estimate only, and is subject to change. As this estimate is based on the predicted or average time to complete the operation, the final fees may differ depending on the actual operation time. Sometimes additional unforeseen services are also required which may incur additional fees.

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Some of the doctors require pre-payment for procedures. All self-funded patients, patients with overseas student and overseas visitor health insurance are required to pay the full anaesthetic fee prior to their procedure. 

You will find information about anaesthetic fees at the Australian Society of Anaesthetists - Billing Information page or you can download their explanation of health insurance rebates for anaesthetic procedures here. You should check with your own health fund as to the likely rebate you will receive from them.

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Please click here for the AMA Guide for Patients on How the Health Care System Funds Medical Care.

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Follow the link below to request an estimate of your anaesthetic fees: