02/11/2025
📢 Why We’re Staying Mixed Billing📢
Family Practice at Yamba understand that healthcare costs are a concern for many, and we want to be transparent about why our clinic is not moving to bulk billing.
To maintain financial sustainability, we operate under a mixed billing model. We bulk bill eligible patients(check our bulk billing policy https://www.familypracticemedicalcentres.com.au/family-practice-at-yamba/ ) while all other patients are required to pay a gap fee.
According to the Australian Medical Association (AMA), the cost of running a medical practice has consistently outpaced the indexation of Medicare rebates. Since 1986, practice costs — driven by Average Weekly Earnings and the Consumer Price Index — have risen steadily. Yet Medicare rebates have lagged far behind, with increases as low as 1.2% to 2.5% between 1995 and 2012, and a complete freeze from 2012 to 2017
This gap means that the rebate you receive from Medicare covers less of your care each year. In 2022 alone, practice costs rose by around 6%, while rebates increased by just 1.6%.
If we were to bulk bill every patient for every appointment, we would be forced to compromise the quality of care by limiting consultations to the shortest possible duration—sometimes as little as five minutes. That’s not the level of care our patients deserve.
💡What this means for you:💡
- Mixed billing allows us to maintain high-quality care, invest in our staff, and keep our doors open.
- We continue to offer bulk billing for eligible patients.
- Our fees reflect the true cost of providing safe, comprehensive medical care.
We suggest that the government should increase your Medicare rebate to reduce your out-of-pocket costs.
We appreciate your understanding and support.
🖼️ credit to: AMA
