Fees & rebates

Concessions, private health, and Medicare rebates

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Our fee structure

What you can expect in terms of cost and rebates

We offer a few options when it comes to paying for your sessions with us. Like most psychologists we are guided by the Australian Association of Psychologists schedule of recommended fees. Our consultation fees vary depending on what appointment times you prefer and what kind of service you require.

Therapy fees

To give you a bit of an idea, our standard fee for an individual therapy session is $200.

Our fee for an outside-hours, couples, or family therapy session is $230.

Assessment fees

Fees for psychological assessments and report writing can vary greatly. It depends on the nature of the assessment, the requirements for the report, and the time taken to conduct, analyse and prepare the assessment documentation.

Assessments and reports are billed based on the following typical process:

The above totals are provided as a general guide. Your psychologist can give you a more accurate estimate of the total cost after chatting with you about what you need.

Payment for the report is made in two parts; the first at completion of the assessment sessions, and the second at the review session. Handover of the final report occurs at the review session unless there are final adjustments needed.

Medicare rebates

Medicare rebates are available if you have been referred by a GP, psychiatrist or paediatrician under the Better Access initiative. You will then be entitled to a rebate for a certain number of sessions per calendar year.

For example, under a Mental Health Care Plan the rebate is currently $98.95 per session for up to ten sessions per calendar year.

As registered Medicare providers, both Brenton and Jess can accept any referral under a Mental Health Care Plan or a Chronic Condition Management Plan. Jess can also accept referrals under an Eating Disorder Management Plan.

Accessing our services under Medicare

To claim a rebate from Medicare you will need to follow the below steps:

Before your first session with a psychologist, you will need to attend an appointment with your GP. When booking the GP appointment let them know that you will need a longer consultation than usual.
When you visit your GP, describe the issues or problems you have been dealing with. Let your doctor know you would like to see a psychologist for some help with this.
Your GP will assess whether psychological treatment is appropriate and, if it is, will prepare a treatment plan and referral letter.
You can choose the psychologist that you would like to be referred to, so at this stage advise your GP if you have a preferred psychologist.
Bring a copy of your referral letter and your Medicare card with you to the first psychology session. You will then be able to receive the rebate immediately after the session.

We use HICAPS (Health Industry Claims and Payments Service, similar to EFTPOS) to process your payments and rebates on the spot. This means you will get your refund straight back into your account on the day. Just make sure you have your Medicare card and bank card with you.If you would prefer to pay by another method, you can still receive your rebate. Either your psychologist can process this for you, or you can upload your session invoice and claim the rebate back from Medicare yourself at any time. The rebate is then deposited into the bank account you have nominated with Medicare, usually within ten days.

A note about eligibility

A Medicare rebate can only be applied to psychological treatment for the specific concerns noted in the treatment plan. So, for example, if you are referred under a MHCP, the rebate cannot be applied to assessments, couples therapy, or non-mental health related issues. For more information you can download the Medicare Better Access Factsheet [ 80 kb] or read about it on the Department of Health and Aged Care website.

Private health cover

We accept all private health insurers, so if you are a member of a health fund you may be entitled to a rebate for psychological services. The vast majority of health insurers provide rebates for psychological assessment and treatment, however whether this applies to you will depend on your level of cover. The number of sessions and the amount you are entitled to can vary according to your policy. Please contact your insurer to find out what your entitlements are for psychological care.

Our HICAPS payment processing terminal supports most private health funds. Just bring your membership card along to get your rebate automatically deducted from the session fee.

Claiming from multiple funders

If you have both private health insurance and a treatment plan from your GP, you can choose which funding you would like to apply to any given session.

However it is important to note that you may only claim from either Medicare or a private health fund for each session. Unfortunately, private health will not contribute towards the ‘gap’ between the Medicare rebate and the session fee, or vice versa. Your invoice will have an item code specific to either Medicare or private health and they are not cross-compatible.

Other funders & rebates

Depending on your situation, there may be other funders who can cover some or all of the cost of your sessions with us. We have worked with many of our clients under a wide range of public and community funding initiatives, including:

Accessing support through these services is dependent on your circumstances, so please check with your funder first.

Concessions

We understand that financial stress can have a huge impact on your overall coping, particularly in difficult times. We do not want to add to that stress in the course of trying to support you!

If you are a student, pensioner or concession card holder we are able to reduce our fees for you. In any other case, please do let us know if you are struggling to cover your session costs, so we can discuss your individual circumstances and work out an appropriate fee for service. Unfortunately we do not bulk bill.

Please get in touch with us if you have any questions about our fees or if you’d like to know more about rebate entitlements or eligibility.