Posted by Michael Wonder on 06 Mar 2017
Patients' medical payments can vary up to 400% among specialists, report finds
6 March 2017 - There is a massive variation in the out-of-pocket payments patients make to medical specialists, both within a given discipline and from location to location, a new report in the Medical Journal of Australia has found.
The report's co-author, Gary Freed from the University of Melbourne, said the cost for patients could vary by up to 400% within one speciality, but patients had no way of knowing whether the service would be better if they chose the more expensive option.
The patient's out-of-pocket cost is the fee charged by the specialist, minus the Medicare rebate given.
