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August 26: Fertility Health Checks Learn More

October 2008

Sometimes the cost of treatment may post couples some difficulties and the way the fees are structured can cause confusion. In an attempt to address these concerns in the following pages you will find more information on how Fertility Solutions structures its fees. Please read on …..

Fertility Solutions Sunshine Coast & Bundaberg Treatment Fees

What does it all mean

Denise Donati
• Once a decision is made to proceed with treatment, a registration fee is incurred. This fee includes three months supply of the female vitamin and mineral supplements and male Antioxidants, Elevit and Menevit, and subscription to Fertility Solutions patient E-Newsletter.

• An estimate of costs for your treatment will be issued to you when you advise us that you wish to commence treatment.

• Payment will be due as follows:

Registration Fee
Following initial consultation, prior to commencing any treatment
IUI cycle On or before the Day 10 scan
FET cycle On or before the Day 10 scan
IVF cycle On or before collection of FSH

• IVF cycles will incur the following fees in addition to those invoiced by Fertility Solutions Sunshine Coast:

Specialist Fee You will receive separate accounts from the fertility specialist for the Planning and Management of the treatment cycle, Egg Retrieval (Item Number 13215) and the Embryo Transfer (Item Number 13212). Medicare will reimburse you for a portion of these accounts. It is recommended that patients telephone and ask the relevant specialist rooms for a quote in order to calculate this out-of-pocket cost.

Anaesthetist Approx $400. Billed to you directly from the anaesthetist. This amount may be less depending upon the MedicarePlus Rebate

Hospital Approx $1000. Paid directly to Nambour Selangor Private Hospital who will provide you with a quote with payment being made on the day of the egg collection.

Embryo Freeze If you have embryos that are suitable for freezing, you will be charged a
& Storage fee for this process. This fee covers the initial freezing of the embryos and storage for 6 months. Ongoing storage fees will be charge on a 6 monthly basis thereafter.

Ongoing If you have frozen eggs, sperm or embryos stored you will be invoiced 6
Storage monthly for this storage (or part thereof). This invoice is payable upon receipt.

MESA patients If you are having a MESA (operative sperm retrieval) procedure there will be extra fees involved for the hospital procedure and urologist involvement. Please check with the urologist for these fees.

If you have Private Health Insurance you may be able to claim
some or all of these expenses

• Cycle Cancellations: If your cycle is cancelled there will be some costs incurred. For example in an IVF cycle there are different charges depending upon when in the cycle the cancellation occurs (i.e. how many days of injections you had). There are also different charges for Frozen Embryo Cycles that are cancelled, depending upon when in the cycle the cancellation occurs. If any cycle cancellation occurs, please talk with our accounts staff who will be happy to explain the associated costs and the amount that will be returned to you, or you may choose to apply this as credit towards your next cycle.

• It is Fertility Solutions policy not to take any unused medications back. All other monies paid can be held in credit or reimbursed to you.

What if the costs are out of our reach?
Payment Options

Denise Donati
Payment Options
For your convenience payment for treatment can be made by any of the following options:
 At Fertility Solutions Sunshine Coast Office by cash, cheque, Mastercard or Visacard

 At Fertility Solutions Bundaberg Branch by cash, cheque, Mastercard or Visa card. (Note no over the phone service is available at this Branch but payment can be made for Bundaberg over the phone at the Sunshine Coast Branch)

 By Phone by Mastercard or Visacard
 Via internet depositing the monies into Fertility Solutions account using the following details

Bank: National Australia Bank (NAB)
Account Name: Fertility Solutions Sunshine Coast Pty Ltd
BSB: 0840846
Account Number: 86679 2117
Please ensure that your name or invoice number is used as a reference with the deposit so that this can be allocated as “payment received” to your account

 Via a medical finance provider (see details below)
Medical Finance Providers
The initial up front payment may be an obstacle for some people and therefore impact upon you commencing fertility treatment. An option that may be suitable for you is medical finance. These companies can provide finance for fertility treatment under terms such as interest free, low interest and/or extended payments options.

There is approximately a four week time frame between your initial payment to Fertility Solutions and your Medicare refund. Therefore, any credit you obtain could potentially be paid back to the finance company before much interest is incurred (if any).

There are many medical finance companies to choose from such as:

Healthcare Assist 1300 725 909
www.healthcareassist.com.au
Mac Credit 1800 185 997
www.maccredit.com.au
MediPlan 1300 1300 12
https://www.mediplan.com.au

It is important to note – Fertility Solutions is in no way recommending or selling the services of these finance providers however they can be a possible option.

What Rebates are we entitled to?
Maximising your refunds

Denise Donati
Medicare Safety Net Plus
The Federal Government has introduced the Medicare Safety Net Plus to make out of hospital, out-of-pocket expenses more affordable. Once the pre-determined threshold of out-of-pocket expenses has been reached during any calendar year, Medicare will reimburse you 80% of the gap. This threshold is approximately $1039 for a family or $519.50 if you hold a Healthcare Card or receive Family Tax Benefit A.

Fertility Solutions recommends that you contact Medicare to register for the Safety Net Plus before any treatment commences. Medicare will be able to advise you what your individual yearly threshold is.

Claiming Your Medicare Refund
• No claim can be made with Medicare until the day of you insemination or transfer, or in the event of a cycle being cancelled, the date the cycle is cancelled. On this day of present your paid invoice to Medicare and they will directly deposit the Medicare Claimable Services into your nominated account.
 DO NOT attempt to make your claim prior to insemination or transfer as this could result in a delay and/or reduction of your claim
TAXATION REBATES
This is a guide only. For further information, please contact your accountant, or the Australian Taxation Office.
You and your partner (if applicable) may be eligible for a tax rebate for some of your medical expenses. This rebate only applies if your expenditure exceeds a set amount in any financial year. Net Medical Expenses refer to medical expenses paid by the taxpayer during the financial year (regardless of when they were incurred), minus reimbursements from Medicare and/or your Private Health Fund. Uninsured couples in particular could possibly qualify for this rebate if they have a procedure at a Private Hospital where their medical expenses exceeded the pre-determined limit in any financial year.
For more information on Taxation Rebates refer to your Fertility Solutions Information Booklet or the Australian Taxation Office website: https://www.ato.gov.au/print.asp?doc=/content/19181.htm

What else do we need to know?

Denise Donati
Fertility Solutions will review its fees yearly in November in line with the revised Medicare rebates. Fertility Solutions reserves the right to review the fees at times outside of this however, every effort will be made to notify clients in advance of any fee changes.
The many treatment options that Fertility Solutions Sunshine Coast offers with different procedures and hormones meant that there are numerous billing combinations making it almost impossible for to provide you with an exact out of pocket cost.

To maximize your rebates you should:
• Register with Medicare for the Safety Net Plus.
• So that you stay informed Fertility Solutions will provide you with an Estimate of Cost prior to you commencing treatment
• You will also receive invoices from your Fertility Specialist, the Anaesthetist and also Selangor Nambour Private Hospital if you have an excess or no Private Health Fund cover.
• Consider that you may need to pay for extra costs which are not included in the standard IVF or FET fees. Medicare and your Health Fund may assist with these.
• Request assistance from Fertility Solutions Sunshine Coast accounts should you need help or any further information. Please phone us on 07 5441 7311.

Click here to visit our website

The Referral System

Things to make it easier

Denise Donati
A valid referral will ensure that you receive the maximum rebate from Medicare. If you do not have a valid referral your out of pocket costs will increase.

Referrals from a Specialist or Consultant Physician are now only valid for three (3) months.

This will mean that if you have been referred by a Specialist or Consultant Physician, your referral will only be valid for a period of three months and your out of pocket costs may increase unless you provide a further updated referral at the expiry of the first three month referral.
Please check your referral details.

Referrals from General Practitioners may cover any period of time.

Fertility Solutions Sunshine Coast suggest that you obtain a referral from your GP to your IVF Specialist and have it marked “Indefinite”, as referrals marked in this way will last a lifetime.

The referral should:-

• Be on behalf of both partners.
• Specify the doctor’s name, address and provider number.
• Be dated before day one (period date) of your cycle prior to treatment.
• Specify the length of coverage of referral – Indefinite, 12 months,
3 months.

Please note:

If you are on the Known Donor Oocyte Programme then both recipient and donor will require referrals.

Medicare Safety Net and Fertility Solutions 2008 Fee Review

Denise Donati
To all our Valued Patients,

This is just a quick courtesy letter to keep you informed regarding the Medicare Safety Net Rebate and Fertility Solutions annual fee revision. Please read on:-

Medicare Safety Net nearing the end of the 2008 Safety Net Year
The Medicare Safety Net Policy was introduced by the Howard Government to provide help for those Australians who face high out-of-pocket costs for medical services. For a given calendar year, the Medicare safety net system covers 80% of out-of pocket costs for the rest of that year once an individual or family reaches the threshold.
So what does this mean for you?

Once you have had a number of medical expenses of any kind, you may be eligible for a larger Medicare refund. The threshold that you must reach to be eligible varies according to your taxable income, and applies to any medical expenses incurred by anyone who is on the same Medicare card. For some people it is $1039, for others $519.50. It doesn’t include any medical expenses that occur while you are in hospital though (these are covered by your Private Health Fund if you have one). Once you have reached your threshold for the calendar year you will receive a much bigger Medicare refund for any further medical expenses that occur out of hospital. The refund is up to 80% of your out of pocket expense (i.e. the cost to you after your Medicare Rebate).

SO NOW FOR THE IMPORTANT INFORMATION. Unfortunately, come January 1 of every year you have to start all over again and each your threshold for the next year. So to capitalize on the Safety Net for the year you may like to consider having another cycle before the end of December 2008 rather than waiting until January 2009. By January 2009 you need to start all over again and build up the threshold.

If you would like to know more about the Medicare Safety Net and what it means for you in relation to out of pocket treatment costs at Fertility Solutions, please call Medicare Nambour Office 5441 3159 and Bundaberg Office 4152 2844 help with any of your inquiries.

Fertility Solutions Fee Review
Fertility Solutions reviews all treatment fees yearly in November in line with the Medicare reviews. This does not necessarily mean that there will be an increase across the board, however, any increases that do occur in treatment/medication costs will be phased in over a 2 month period. This transition time enables individuals/couples time to consider having another treatment before the price rise takes effect.

Please note, even though the new prices will come into effect as of December 2008 for new patients, any price changes will only be effective as of January 2008 to existing Fertility Solutions patients.

If you would like to discuss this further please contact Cate or Denise so that we may be able to assist in your individual circumstance.

Regards for now

Denise Donati
Director/Program Manager
Fertility Solutions

Click here to visit Medicare Australia to learn more about the Safety Net