The anaesthesiologist will visit you before the operation to assess any patient risk factors and to plan your anaesthetic management. This may take place in the ward or the surgical waiting area depending on your procedure, time of admission etc. While the Anaesthesiologist may spend only a few minutes with you, this time is very important and is used to assess your recorded medical history and perform an examination to account for any anaesthetic risk factors and to formulate a safe anaesthetic plan.
Patient Consent and Billing
Patient Consent
Obtaining written Anaesthetic consent is now a legal prerequisite.
Southern Anaesthetics therefore encourage all patients to complete the Green Anaesthetic Form which can be downloaded here. Patients must give this form to their Anaesthetist on the day of the surgical procedure. Should you have any queries, questions or problems which you would like to discuss with your Anaesthesiologist, please email or call.
Download Consent Form
Should you have any queries, questions or problems which you would like to discuss with your Anaesthesiologist, please email or call.
Fees Charged by Your Anaesthesiologist
You will receive a separate account from your anaesthesiologist. (You will also receive accounts from the surgeon, hospital and possibly the radiologist, pathologist, physiotherapist etc.)
Your anaesthetic account will include the following:
A fee calculated according to the anaesthetic difficulty of the indicated surgical procedure.
Depending on the duration of your procedure / operation, a time-based anaesthetic fee will be charged per 15 minutes of your procedure.
(Fees Related to Increased anaesthetic Risk)
- An additional “emergency fee” may be charged if your procedure is either unbooked prior to the start of the list or an emergency, irrespective of the time of the day.
- Emergency travel fee may be charged for the attending anaesthesiologist to make an unscheduled trip to the venue where your procedure takes place.
- Epidurals, nerve blocks, postoperative drug infusions and ‘patient controlled analgesia’ (PCA) devices for pain relief.
- Arterial and central venous lines for careful monitoring of your condition during and after the procedure.
- Should you need specific or goal directed blood pressure control during your procedure.
- The performance of ultrasound guided procedures.
- Patients in non-typical positions during the procedure.
- Patients less than a year old, or older than 70 years of age.
- Body mass index (BMI) if greater than or equal to 35kg/m2.
- Orthopaedic modifiers depending on the site of surgery.
- Operations on the head/neck.
- Insertion of a nasogastric tube.
- Should the patient have systemic illnesses causing functional impairment.
- Should the patient be ventilated or admitted to intensive care.
- Preoperative Risk Assessment
-
The anaesthesiologist will visit you before the operation to assess any patient risk factors and to plan your anaesthetic management. This may take place in the ward or the surgical waiting area depending on your procedure, time of admission etc. While the Anaesthesiologist may spend only a few minutes with you, this time is very important and is used to assess your recorded medical history and perform an examination to account for any anaesthetic risk factors and to formulate a safe anaesthetic plan.
- Procedure Fee
-
A fee calculated according to the anaesthetic difficulty of the indicated surgical procedure.
- Time-based Anaesthetic Fee
-
Depending on the duration of your procedure / operation, a time-based anaesthetic fee will be charged per 15 minutes of your procedure.
- Other Possible Additional Fees
-
(Fees Related to Increased anaesthetic Risk)
- An additional “emergency fee” may be charged if your procedure is either unbooked prior to the start of the list or an emergency, irrespective of the time of the day.
- Emergency travel fee may be charged for the attending anaesthesiologist to make an unscheduled trip to the venue where your procedure takes place.
- Epidurals, nerve blocks, postoperative drug infusions and ‘patient controlled analgesia’ (PCA) devices for pain relief.
- Arterial and central venous lines for careful monitoring of your condition during and after the procedure.
- Should you need specific or goal directed blood pressure control during your procedure.
- The performance of ultrasound guided procedures.
- Patients in non-typical positions during the procedure.
- Patients less than a year old, or older than 70 years of age.
- Body mass index (BMI) if greater than or equal to 35kg/m2.
- Orthopaedic modifiers depending on the site of surgery.
- Operations on the head/neck.
- Insertion of a nasogastric tube.
- Should the patient have systemic illnesses causing functional impairment.
- Should the patient be ventilated or admitted to intensive care.
Important to Note:
The fees charged, and the codes used, by the Southern Anaesthetic Associates fall within the guidelines of the South African Society of Anaesthetists (SASA) and the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA), a statutory body.
Previously the HPCSA determined the guidelines for reasonable professional fees, and the Council for Medical Schemes the “Reference Price List”, effectively the lowest tariff medical funders would pay. The Competition board and Courts have however stopped all setting of prices and at this stage each medical aid and doctor set their own prices. (Competition Commission ruling 2006) The rates that medical aids will pay depends on the individual funder and the plans they offer.
To enable us to provide the quality service that our patients deserve, Southern Anaesthetic Associates have linked our fees to the cost of delivering the service and benchmarked this to other professional services. The rate is based on our training, expertise, experience and practice costs and does not relate to any medical scheme rate
Each associate at Southern Anaesthetics therefore has set their own rate annually, and there is no collusion between associates. The rate is covered by many medical aid plans. Some of the associates have a ‘direct payment arrangement’ with some of the medical funders with no co-payments on these plans, and others do not. The onus is therefore on the patient to find out who is going to be their Anaesthesiologist, and to obtain a cost estimate from them should they be worried that there may be a shortfall which they should pay themselves.
Irrespective of the authorisation of the procedure and the promises to pay by the medical aid, the account remains the sole responsibility of the patient and the main member. You are therefore advised to check what benefits your medical aid will pay. Please feel free to discuss tariff rates and queries with your anaesthesiologist, as you remain personally responsible for the account.
The Southern Anaesthetic associate may offer a discount for early payment.
An account may be sent to your medical aid to assist you with your claim, but you are still responsible for payment of the anaesthetic account to your anaesthesiologist. All interest and legal fees that arise from any accounts not settled within 30 days will be for your account.
Southern Anaesthetic Associates’ accounts are administered by independent medical practice administrators and your anaesthesiologist may not know that you are experiencing any difficulties, unless you inform them of such.
All private paying patients should contact Southern Anaesthetics for a ‘cost estimate’ and settle the account at the time of surgery.
