Your Associated Provider’s Fee Payment Policy
Appointment Fees | Your Neonatal Care Invoice | Other Invoices
Your provider’s fees are closely linked to the quality and sustainability of their services. The Fee Payment Policy aims to ensure fairness, minimise costs, and reduce the need for fee increases. Appointments and other services are offered only on the condition that the invoice issued will be fully settled when due.
Payment of the whole invoice amount is required
This enables you to have all rebates paid in one step within about four business hours (normally) to minimise out-of-pocket costs and the wait for rebates. Payment in full also helps minimise administrative costs and contain fee increases. If several items are billed, an itemised payment plan may be agreed upon if needed.
Invoice Due Dates
Appointment Fees Due Dates
Appointment fees are due the same day, immediately after your child’s appointment. Some families may be required to pay a deposit before their next appointment. Non-attended appointment (Cancellation) Fees are due by 4 pm on the next business day following the invoice issue date.
Prescription Renewals, Medication or Other Forms & Letter Requests are processed once the fee is paid or we have received a copy of your bank’s transfer record. If your doctor, at their discretion, declines to issue the script, letter or form or needs to complete the request in an appointment or waives the fee, any Request Fee you have paid will be changed to an Account Deposit and applied to contribute to the payment of the fee for your child's next appointment unless there are no further appointments scheduled. The script/letter/form may be issued and invoiced by an associated locum for your usual provider. Where the provision of the script is not possible due to the availability of repeats, the fee (s) will be payable for the work associated with the request.
Other emailed invoices, such as for Late Fees, are due five business days after the invoice date.
Hospital Neonatal Care Account due dates
Invoices should be paid in full by six weeks after your baby’s birth or 10 business days from the invoice date, whichever is later.
Accounts for admitted care where your baby is eligible for Medicare: you must ensure that by your baby’s sixth week of age, we have your baby’s
· Medicare enrolment verified with Medicare Online;
· Health Fund Policy cover verified with Eclipse for all admitted care service dates. Eclipse is the online system for lodging claims with health funds.
For Hospital Neonatal Care accounts, a Concessional Itemised Payment Plan may be agreed if needed, but only if your baby is enrolled with Medicare. This plan allows the whole invoice to be settled in several itemised payments. Following each payment, a Medicare claim can be lodged to claim rebates for the paid items.
Payment Methods
Preferred: VISA, MasterCard payment by EFTPOS in person at the Reception desk.
Online transfer payments (EFT Direct Deposit) with longer processing time and wait for rebates:
PayID- i.e. using your providers’ ABN on invoices- please use this as it is the most secure.
If your bank does not have PayID, please email to request your providers’ bank account details.
Please identify your payment with the invoice number or your child's name & birth date
Please email remittance advice and allow around a week for processing.
Cash is not accepted except to pay the first item on a neonatal invoice if parents have not been advised of this policy before their baby's birth. A surcharge,inclusive of GST, of $50 plus 3% of the cash amount paid will apply to cash payments to cover the disproportionate associated administrative costs. Cash is not kept on the premises; correct change will be given via online bank transfer or applied as a deposit to your account.
Also not accepted for payment: Medicare Cheques, NDIS funds, DVA.
Concerns about managing the payment
Paying your account by Eftpos at the desk, over the phone or via Video allows an immediate rebate claim following receipt. Medicare rebates are usually paid within about four business hours, so morning payments are generally rebated by the end of the day.
Medicare’s rebates are significant and many families with neonatal care accounts find that additional Safety Net rebates cover up to 80% of the standard gap.
Parents are jointly responsible for any invoice for their child’s healthcare unless the Family Court limits this.
Your Provider does not Bulk Bill. Any previous Bulk Bill or concession by your provider or other associated provider does not constitute a promise, guarantee or indication of further Bulk Billing or concessions. Fees are advised in writing prior to services and will apply unless a concession has been expressly agreed. Please see the Concessions Policy for further information.
Please contact us if you have any questions or concerns about your account. Our practice staff are approachable and understanding, and can help you avoid difficulties and stress when managing your account.
Cost recovery & remedies for overdue accounts
We understand an account can simply be overlooked, and send a reminder by email (or verbally) to help the family avoid these fees. Otherwise, it is firm practice policy that all accounts are settled, and all costs of delayed settlement are recovered with late fees or, if needed, through legal or debt recovery services. This is a matter of fairness. Delays in payment or in providing health fund details significantly increase administrative costs. If not addressed, these costs unfairly burden your provider and the families who pay their accounts promptly. For further explanation, see our Billing Policy. Late Payment Fees are billed to recover some of these costs.
Late Payment Fees: A Late Fee of 1.5% of the invoiced amount plus GST will accrue and may be applied from the time the account is overdue (within 24 hours of the invoice being issued) for all services other than Neonatal Accounts. Further Late Fees will accrue and be applied if not settled within 7 days of the due date. Further Late Fees will apply every seven days at 4 pm while the account remains unsettled. Reminder letters will be sent when Late Fees accrue.
Neonatal Care Account Late Fees. The account is due by 4 pm on the day your newborn is six weeks old, or on the 14th day after the invoice issue date, whichever is later. To avoid the accrual of Late Payment Fees, please ensure you have by this due date,
Paid all amounts invoiced to you in full for
Non-admitted care of your baby if eligible for Medicare.
Any admitted or non-admitted care of your baby, if not eligible for Medicare.
Ensured we have your baby’s verified Medicare enrolment and health fund policy cover for all admitted care service dates, so we can invoice your fund if your baby is Medicare-eligible and has had admitted care.
The first Late Fee of 1.5% of the outstanding balance + GST. The fee is calculated on the whole outstanding balance, including any admitted care, whether the admitted care balance has been advised to you or not. This first Late Fee will accrue at 4 pm on the due day, but its application is deferred.
Reminder 1 Letter is sent if the account is not settled by the due date. If your account remains unsettled by seven days following the Reminder 1 Letter, a second Late Fee accrues and will be applied to your account together with the first Late Fee, and a Reminder 2 Letter sent. If the account remains unsettled by 4 pm on the 7th day following the Reminder 2 Letter, a third Late Fee will accrue and be applied, and Reminder 3 Letter will be sent at that time. Further Late Fees will accrue and apply at each further seven-day interval at 4 pm until the account is settled.
Do not claim a Medicare Cheque. Late fees will accrue and be applied to all outstanding account balances as described above, regardless of whether a parent has claimed a Medicare Cheque, or the Cheque is pending or has been provided to pay a portion of the account. Where an account is not fully settled, including where late fees remain outstanding, the late fee calculated on the original balance will continue to accrue and be applied as if the account remains fully unsettled.
Additional Invoices following an outstanding invoice:
When an invoice is overdue, any subsequent invoices issued for services in the same course of treatment or therapy that are not paid by 4 pm on the due date will be treated as part of the initial, unpaid invoice. From this point, the Late Fee, calculated at 1.5% plus GST, will be applied to the account's total outstanding balance. We add this to the account every seven days until the entire account balance is settled.
If accounts remain outstanding beyond 35 days after the due date and we have sent you at least 3 written reminders by email or post, a Debt Recovery Fee of $250 will be added to the account to help cover costs. We will transfer the outstanding account to our debt recovery service or to a lawyer to recover the debt and cover all associated costs.
For outstanding neonatal care accounts, in addition to the above steps, we may notify the admitting hospital and the referring obstetrician that your provider and their associated colleagues will require a deposit of $1600 to be paid to Prosper Paediatrics before any further obstetric admission, and this amount will then be applied to the invoice of the paediatrician and their locum, if any, who consequently accepts referral of your newborn.
It is your responsibility to provide accurate contact details. Families should ensure they are readily contactable by email and phone. Parents should add our email address to their contacts so it is recognised. Late fee accrual and invoice payment due dates will not be adjusted if the correct email or postal address has not been provided, corrected, or updated, or if our communications have been sent to a parent's spam or junk folder. The acceptance of private specialist providers’ services creates a legal obligation to pay the fees promptly.