To understand if we bulk bill or not you need to read up on whether you are eligible for the Medicare-funded program. The Chronic Disease Management Program (CDM), also known as the Enhanced Primary Care Plan (EPC) was introduced by the Australian government as a Medicare initiative in 1999. The program is designed to be a Medicare rebate, covering part of the consult cost for up to a maximum of five visits per calendar year. You can read more about it here in our blog where we talk about it in-depth and find out if you’re eligible or not.
DO WE BULK BILL FOR OUR SERVICES?
So by now you’ve read up and are knowledgeable about the CDM program.
Under this program, the rebate for Podiatry services is $58 per appointment.
At our practice, what you need to do is actually pay the full fee of the consultation upfront first and then we process the Medicare rebate and get it back to you on the spot.
Here are the steps:
- You need to pay the full fee any way that suits you… cash, credit card or debit card.
- If you have your bank details registered with Medicare, they will immediately put the rebate back into your account.
- If you do not have your bank details registered with Medicare, we can swipe your Medicare card and DEBIT card and access the $54.60 rebate for you on the spot. Note that you cannot use a CREDIT card for this process.
So the answer is we don’t Bulk Bill at The Footcare Clinic. At our clinic, Medicare will fund between 65% – 87% of the cost of your visit. This varies because each consult will be charged differently according to what services we provide for you.
WHY DON’T WE BULK BILL?
At The Footcare Clinic, we don’t Bulk Bill. Instead, we charge a small gap fee alongside the rebate to ensure that we can provide the best experience (and longer consults) for our clients. Generally, this gap fee is around $29 (on top of the rebated $58) for your initial consult (which is 40 mins of comprehensive assessment, diagnosis, planning and treatment) and around $10 for any subsequent consults.
The Footcare Clinic ethos is that we: 
- Invest in our team
- Invest in our clients
- Invest in our clinic
The fee you pay supports us in these 3 main areas of our business.
- When we invest in our team we provide them with the latest evidence-based training so that they can help you recover quickly to get better health outcomes. We also provide a front of house support team that doesn’t make you feel like a number.
- When we invest in our clients we provide them with education resources, handouts, the latest modern equipment to help speed recovery and get them back on their feet to do what they love.
- When we invest in our clinic we aim to provide a welcoming and comfortable environment for you to enjoy when you visit. Lollies to nibble on, magazines to read, music to listen to, clean water to drink, aromatherapy surrounds, and comfortable chairs to sit on.
So if we were to operate solely on bulk billing we would not be able to provide you with all those great things that you look for when you visit a Podiatry clinic. It wouldn’t be fair on you or our business if we cut corners to save you a few bucks! Of course, we try and give you the best value for your dollars – we understand that we all work hard to earn a living. It’s all about coming to a healthy balance – we like to think that The Footcare Clinic provides great value economically while doing a great job on your feet.
