INFORMATION FOR REFERRING DOCTORS
Mental Health Plan Referrals - Bulk Billed Service
A current and complete Mental Health Plan AND a referral letter are required for referral under a Medicare referral for your patients to attract Bulk Billed service.
Referring patients for psychological services – What GPs should know
It is a mandatory requirement and best practice for GPs to provide a letter when referring a patient for a psychological service. A GP MHTP alone is not considered a referral and therefore not sufficient for the psychologist to provide a service.
According to advice from Medicare Australia, legislation does not require that a referral be addressed to a named health professional. If a referral is addressed to one provider, the patient is not obligated to go to that particular practitioner. The patient can see another practitioner in the same discipline, provided they can provide the same psychological service.
- For more information on communication requirements between referrers and providers of mental health services, refer to the GPMHSC Practice Guide: Communication between medical and mental health professionals.
Calendar year claiming limits for mental health services
In a calendar year, your patient can receive psychological therapy and FPS services up to the combined limit of:
- 10 individual services
- 10 group services.
A calendar year is from 1 January to 31 December.
We calculate the yearly claiming limit on the date of service, not when the treatment was referred.
Once a patient has reached their service limit, you can keep treating them but they can’t access Medicare benefits for your services.
(Ref: https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/better-access-initiative-supporting-mental-health-care)
Services I Am Unable To Offer
Emergent and crisis referrals – We are unable to provide emergent and crisis interventions, and do not offer the necessary 24hour crisis intervention required for appropriate and responsible treatment of these patients.
Such patients are more appropriately referred to the Townsville University Hospital, Acute Care Team or other emergency crisis services.
Significant psychiatric referrals – I am unable to offer the capacities of coverage to effectively or responsibly deal with such cases, and such cases should be referred to the appropriate agencies.
Assessments and reports for Parole, Court, Sex Offender treatment, etc – I am unable to provide these services under Medicare, and consequently as a we are a bulk billing practice, we do not provide these services under any circumstances.
Medico-legal and Insurance Claim referrals - I am unable to provide these services under Medicare, and consequently as a we are a bulk billing practice, we do not provide these services under any circumstances.
National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) Assessments – Assessments for eligibility for NDIA and capacity assessments, positive behaviour support plans, etc are not covered under Medicare and require specialised instruments to complete. Subsequently, whilst we may contribute to these assessments and/or provide conjoint treatment, we are unable to provide these assessments.
**** Cases fitting the above criteria, or who do not fit the current scope of Service, will be referred back to the referring GP ****
Clients' Responsibility To Make Initial Contact
PLEASE NOTE: It is the referred clients responsibility to contact to arrange their appointments.
For Confidentiality and Privacy reasons we will NEVER make an initial contact with referred Clients. Please ensure any patient that you refer is aware that they MUST make the initial contact for an appointment with our Service.