General Information

Private patients do not require a referral to see a podiatrist at Melbourne Podiatrists & Orthotics. All you need to do is just pick up the phone and call to make an appointment. Alternatively you can also book an appointment online.

DVA patients require a GP referral to see our podiatrists and use our services.

If you are a gold DVA card holder then you can access all podiatry services that meet your clinical needs. White card holders may be eligible for podiatry services if they are required because of an accepted war or service caused injury or disease. Please speak to your GP for more information.

A GP referral is required for all patients under the Medicare Chronic Disease Management (CDM) program.

The Medicare Chronic Disease Management Program is a government designed program that allows eligible patients access to allied health services including podiatry under Medicare.

If you suffer from a chronic disease that requires a structured multidisciplinary approach then under the CDM program you may be eligible for Medicare rebates on up to 5 allied health treatments (including podiatry) per calendar year.

A chronic medical condition is one that has been (or is likely to be) present for six months or longer, for example, asthma, cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, musculoskeletal conditions and stroke.

Your GP will ultimately decide if you are eligible for treatment under the Medicare CDM program.

If deemed eligible your GP will prepare a CDM management plan, team care arrangement plan and an allied health referral.

If you have been referred to Melbourne Podiatrists & Orthotics by your GP for podiatry services under the Medicare CDM program :

• Melbourne Podiatrists & Orthotics will charge their normal consultation fees.
• We will then submit your claim to Medicare on your behalf on the same day.
• The Medicare rebate is paid into your nominated bank account usually the next day.
• You are only left a small amount out of pocket for your podiatry service.

NB. The small gap fee is necessary to help cover our operating costs and maintain our high standard of foot care.

Our Melbourne podiatrists happily treat TAC & Worksafe patients at Melbourne Podiatrists & Orthotics. To claim you will generally need a TAC or Worksafe claim number and documentation stating that you have been approved for treatment services.

At Melbourne Podiatrists & Orthotics all TAC and Worksafe accounts are the responsibility of the patient. Normal consultation fees will be billed for podiatry services with full payment required on the day. The patient is then responsible for sending their claim into TAC or Worksafe for rebates.

Melbourne Podiatrists & Orthotics is currently classified as an unregistered NDIS provider.

Unregistered NDIS providers can still provide services which are fully funded by the NDIS, like any registered provider, they just can’t claim their invoices with the NDIS directly.

Only NDIS participants who self-manage their plans or have a registered plan manager can access our services. A referral is not required.

For self- managed plans we invoice the patient directly for payment. The patient will then have to manually claim the funds back from the NDIS, using the NDIS portal. For plan managed plans we invoice the patient’s plan manager.

The services we can offer depend on how your NDIS plan is managed:

Self-managed NDIS plans

We can provide a full range of podiatry services including:

• General foot care
• Gait analysis
• Custom orthotics
• Nail surgery
• Other podiatry services or products

The patient pays for their services in full at the time of consultation.

Plan managed NDIS plans

As we are required to meet the NDIS price guide we can only provide basic general treatment services without prior financial approval. This means we can provide general foot care, nail cutting, corn, callus removal etc.

To provide patients with more advanced treatment including:

• Gait analysis
• Custom orthotics
• Nail surgery
• Other podiatry services or products

We will require prior financial approval and payment from your plan manager. If more advanced treatment is required a podiatrist will send the plan manager a detailed letter and quote outlining the treatment. Once this is approved and paid for in full by the plan manager then treatment will proceed.

NB. In some cases our advanced treatments may not meet the NDIS price guide and your plan manager may refuse to proceed with payment and the treatment.

For plan managed plans we invoice the patient’s plan manager following their appointment. The patient will need to bring in their plan manager’s invoice and contact details to their appointment. If these details are not supplied then the patient will be directly invoiced for the consultation.

Future consultations and appointments with plan managed plans will only proceed once invoices are fully paid. If accounts remain outstanding then we will have no option but to defer treatment until payment is received from your plan manager.

NDIA managed plans

As an unregistered NDIS provider we cannot provide any services to patients under this plan.

For more information please download our NDIS Unregistered Provider Patient Information Handout.