We supply the chemotherapy and accompanying medication to patients receiving treatment at the Comprehensive Cancer Centre located at St John of God Bunbury Hospital. If you are receiving chemotherapy at the Centre, you can expect to receive an invoice from us for the medications you have received as part of your treatment.
If you’re being treated with PBS funded chemotherapy, you can expect to receive an invoice for PBS co-payments, in just the same way you would have to pay if your Doctor wrote you a prescription and you had it filled at your local pharmacy. There are some special rules under the Efficient Funding of Chemotherapy Drugs arrangements, where patients will pay only one PBS co-payment ($6.10 concessional or $37.70 general) for each original prescription dispensed but not for repeat prescriptions. However, it is important to note that this doesn’t apply to all chemotherapy.
If you are receiving PBS funded chemotherapy, we will only ever charge you the PBS co-payment. We don’t charge extra fees for the specialist service we provide. We are remunerated by the government through the PBS for these.
In most cases, you’ll be invoiced directly by us for your chemotherapy – i.e. it won’t appear on an invoice from the hospital. As a result, you will need to pay us directly.
Further information on the role of the PBS subsidising chemotherapy can be found here [http://www.pbs.gov.au/info/publication/factsheets/shared/revised-arrangements-for-chemotherapy]
As a general rule, private health funds don’t cover the PBS co-payment, so even if you have private health cover, you will still receive an invoice from us for your treatment.
If you have any queries with regards to the role of your private health fund, please contact one of our pharmacists.
If you’re being treated as a public patient, you can still expect to receive an invoice for PBS co-payments, in just the same way you would have to pay if your Doctor wrote you a prescription and you had it filled at your local pharmacy.
In some cases, your Doctor may recommend you’re best course of treatment is with chemotherapy not subsidised by the Government through the PBS. This will generally mean that you incur a large out-of-pocket cost and it’s very important you have an understanding of the potential total cost of your therapy. We encourage you to speak to our pharmacists about the cost involved.
In some cases, private health funds may cover some or all of the cost, however it’s very important you discuss this with the pharmacy and your insurer before starting treatment. This will ensure you’re absolutely clear about the cost involved.
