Medicare Rebates
INDIVIDUAL PSYCHOLOGICAL THERAPY
Medicare currently offers eligible individuals a rebate for 20 individual ‘Psychological Therapy’ sessions in a calendar year (after 1st Jan 2023 this may return to 10 sessions).
Medicare also offers an additional 6-10 group ‘Psychological Therapy’ sessions per calendar year (see below for details).
The Medicare rebate is only available for individuals with an Australian Medicare card. Sessions can either be face-to-face or via telehealth (video) or phone.
To be eligible for the rebate, you will need a mental health care plan and a referral letter from your GP or Psychiatrist. The first referral is typically for six sessions, then you will need to see your GP again after your 6th, 10th and 20th sessions for a new referral letter.
If you wish to claim a rebate from Medicare you must:
- Book a long appointment with your GP (or Psychiatrist) and receive the following:
- Mental Health Treatment Plan that includes individual psychological therapy under the Medicare ‘Better Access to Mental Health Care Initiative’.
- a written referral, specifying a referral for 6 sessions of individual psychological therapy. It must be dated before the first session you would like to claim a Medicare rebate for (if this is dated after the session, you will only be able to claim for the sessions after this date).
- Complete the intake and consent forms (these will be emailed to you after you book your first appointment).
- Ask your GP to fax the referral letter and Mental Health Treatment Plan to us or email it to us before your first session.
- We will process you Medicare rebate after full payment has been made, and should arrive in your nominated account overnight.
In accordance with Medicare requirements, I will write a brief letter to your referring GP after our first session and after our 6th, 10th and 20th session, or whenever we finish.
For more information about Medicare, visit the Medicare website.
Please note that while we do all we can to support you to claim a rebate, it is your responsibility to ensure that you have the correct referral information to do so. While we will endeavour to process your Medicare rebate for you, on the rare occasion that this fails, we will provide you with a detailed receipt of your session to take to Medicare and claim the rebate yourself.
If you are uncertain whether your GP has completed all the necessary referral information for you to be eligible for a rebate, please confirm this with your GP or call Medicare on 132 011. We cannot confirm these details for you.
GROUP PSYCHOLOGICAL THERAPY
Medicare currently offers eligible individuals a rebate for 6 -10 group ‘Psychological Therapy’ sessions (in addition to the 6-10 individual sessions) with a Medicare registered Psychologist.
Please note that unless otherwise specified, the Medicare rebate is only available for 6 week courses in person, not for workshops, retreats or online courses.
To be eligible for the rebate, you will need an Australian Medicare card and a mental health care plan and a referral letter from your GP or Psychiatrist.
You only need a referral from you GP if you wish to claim a Medicare rebate for the course.
If you already have a mental health care plan and a referral for individual counselling (either with me or another psychologist), you will need to talk to your referring GP about adding group therapy to the care plan, and you will need another referral letter specifically for group therapy (details below).
To receive a rebate from Medicare you must:
- Book a long appointment with your GP (or Psychiatrist) and receive the following:
- Mental Health Treatment Plan that includes GROUP psychological therapy under the Medicare ‘Better Access to Mental Health Care Initiative’ (if you already have a Treatment Plan, group therapy will need to be added).
- a written referral to Clinical Psychologist Dr Lauren Tober, specifying a referral for 6 sessions of GROUP psychological therapy. It must be dated before the beginning of the course (if this is dated after the commencement of the course, you will only be able to claim for the classes after this date).
- Register for the course either online or during a counselling session. You can register before or after the visit to your GP.
- Complete the registration form (this will be emailed to you after you register).
- Bring the referral letter and Mental Health Treatment Plan to the first session (alternatively your GP can email it to me at reception (at) laurentober.com).
- Attend all the sessions to receive the full rebate (Medicare only provides a rebate for classes you actually attend, if you miss a class you won’t get a rebate for that class).
- At the end of the course, complete the feedback form (you’ll receive this at the end of the course).
- You will then receive a receipt that you can send or take to a Medicare office and claim your refund. Medicare also has an app you can use to claim your refund. More info here.
As Medicare only provides a rebate for the sessions that you actually attend, I will provide you with a receipt after the completion of the course, with the dates of the sessions you attended on it.
In accordance with Medicare requirements, I will:
- Provide you with a detailed receipt at the end of the course
- Write a letter to your referring GP at the conclusion of the course (you will need to complete the feedback form in a timely manner for this to happen).
For more information about Medicare, visit the Medicare website.
Please note that while we do all we can to support you to claim a rebate, it is your responsibility to ensure that you have the correct referral information to do so. While we will endeavour to process your Medicare rebate for you, on the rare occasion that this fails, we will provide you with a detailed receipt of your session to take to Medicare and claim the rebate yourself.
If you are uncertain whether your GP has completed all the necessary referral information for you to be eligible for a rebate, please confirm this with your GP or call Medicare on 132 011. We cannot confirm these details for you.