About ACCESS

 

The Access Program

OUR WORLD CLASS SURGEONS CAN OFFER LIFE CHANGING TREATMENTS (WITH LITTLE OR NO OUT OF POCKET COSTS) TO THOSE WHO NEED IT MOST.

For an increasing number of Australians, access to affordable healthcare, especially for specialist treatments and surgical procedures, is becoming more difficult. Our Australian healthcare system and Medicare, which has served us so well for so long is now under increasing financial pressure and will struggle to cope with the ageing population and burden of chronic disease we face today and into the future.

We are aware of sky rocketing out of pocket costs passed onto patients which force many, who have private insurance cover, to either forgo treatment altogether or join the growing queue on public waiting lists.

At Integrated Specialist Healthcare (ISHCERF) in collaboration with MQ Health, we are proud to announce our solution for healthcare affordability.

We believe that our organisations, which are not for profit and centres of academic health excellence are well placed to bring innovation to the healthcare sector. We understand that in order to truly impact health outcomes, we are not only obliged to make the latest treatments available, but we are committed to ensuring that the people who most need and benefit from these treatments have access to them.

This innovative healthcare model is designed to improve the quality of life and wellbeing for patients who otherwise couldn’t afford treatments because of prohibitive out of pocket costs.

The ACCESS procedures available to eligible patients are:

Whilst not life threatening, if gone untreated, these conditions can have devastating physical, emotional and physiological consequences for patients and can impact on their quality of life.

If you are in need of any of these procedures, have or are considering private health cover, and are languishing on a public waiting list or and are finding the out of pocket costs prohibitive, consider applying below. The ACCESS Program will grant places for treatment at little or no out of pocket costs. Details on our application process are listed below.

ACCESS Eligibility Criteria

ACCESS is only available to patients who currently have private health cover and whose cover includes the listed procedures and their associated hospital costs.

If you do not have private health cover, or are unsure about your level of cover, please consider contacting a private health insurance provider to ensure this is in place prior to submitting your application. ACCESS favours a known gap scheme. Please enquire if your health fund provides this option before you apply.

All applicants are assessed on clinical need, as well as your own personal and financial circumstances. In some cases, ACCESS may require additional information to support your application.

If your application satisfies these criteria, ACCESS will arrange a consultation with a partner surgeon. It is only after this clinical assessment – which will evaluate the risks and benefits of the procedure – that an ACCESS procedure will be confirmed. In some circumstances, further medical and diagnostic evaluation will be required as recommended by the clinical assessment.

To apply please click here.

We are able to offer this unique service because of our not for profit status, as well as our alliance with other Healthcare innovators like MQ Health.

But the most significant contributor, to these reduced or minimally costed procedures, is your Specialist doctors – who have agreed to reduce or waive their fee. These Specialists have signalled their intent to be altruistic and support your need for these procedures over and above financial considerations.

PLEASE NOTE:
  • The Access Program does not cover Breast Augmentations (Breast Lifts, Implants).
  • Revision Surgery is not covered by the Access Program.
  • Patients who have had previous Bariatric Surgery are not eligible for Bariatric Surgery as part of the Access Program.
COMMUNICATION ON SOCIAL MEDIA:

If accepted into the Access Program, we request that patients do not reveal the name of their surgeon, the procedures being performed or the cost of their surgery on social media, through private messaging or in support groups.
This is to protect the Surgeons who generously give their time to the Access Program.