Peter Mac is a specialist, public health cancer care hospital that offers a wide range of cancer treatments and services to patients who come from Victoria, interstate and sometimes overseas. At admission, you will be asked if you have private health insurance and if you would like to be admitted as a private or public patient.
If you choose to be a public patient, you:
- Need to have a valid Medicare card.
- Are treated and cared for by a doctor assigned to you (chosen) by Peter Mac. This doctor can change across visits; however, a senior consultant (specialist) always oversees them.
- May need to pay for some hospital services. Our friendly staff will explain this to you.
- Choosing to be a private patient at Peter Mac gives you more options. As a private patient, you:
- Can choose the doctor you want to be treated by as long as they have an agreement to treat private patients at Peter Mac.
- Can choose to be treated by our assigned doctor and then elect to be admitted as a private patient under this doctor’s care.
- Do not have to pay any private health insurance excess fees. Peter Mac will cover this or any co-payment required by your private health fund
- Have no ‘out of pocket expenses’ for most services such as pathology and radiology.
- Your private health insurance payment goes straight to the hospital. We use this to buy services and equipment and improve the services we provide to the cancer community.
- Receive support from our Private Patient Liaison Officer. Support includes hassle free billing and answering all your questions about your private patient accounts.
No. Waiting times for appointments or treatments are not based on the health cover you have.
All patients, both public and private, will need to pay for their medications on discharge.
Pension cards, health care cards and safety net numbers can apply when buying your medications. If you hold any of these cards, please be sure to have these details with you.
There are some services not covered by private health insurance.
You will not be reimbursed for any of the following costs:
- [email protected] nurse service.
- Telephone calls from your hospital phone that are not local. To make long distance calls you will need to buy a phone card from our front reception desk.
- Purchase or hire costs for any aids or equipment to make your home safer.
We will send your Peter Mac bills directly to Medicare and/or your private health insurance.
Sometimes, we need to send our private patients to other hospitals for special tests. If this happens, you may receive a bill from the other hospital. If this happens, you simply need to send these bills to Peter Mac’s Private Patient Liaison Officer.
Our Private Patient Liaison Officer will claim them directly from Medicare and/or your private health insurance for you.
Yes, some basic covers do cover you for inpatient treatment. Our Private Liaison Officers will confirm your coverage with your private health fund
Yes, simply ask to see the Private Patient Liaison Officer who will answer all your questions and help change you from public to private.
