Providing first world, up-to-date Anaesthesia and Critical Care
Anaesthesia is a crucial medical process designed to ensure that surgeries and medical procedures can be performed safely and without causing pain or distress to the patient. It works by temporarily blocking sensations, including pain, so that the patient is either unconscious, in a relaxed state, or has a localized numbness, depending on the type of anaesthesia used. Here's a breakdown of the different types:
This involves rendering the patient fully unconscious, ensuring that they feel no pain and are unaware of what's happening during the procedure. It's used for more invasive surgeries.
Sedation helps relax the patient and often induces a drowsy state, but the patient may remain conscious and aware. It's typically used for minor procedures where full anaesthesia is unnecessary.
This numbs only a specific area of the body, usually through an injection. The patient remains fully awake but doesn't feel pain in the treated area.
These are targeted anaesthetic injections around specific nerves, blocking pain sensation in a particular region of the body. Like local anaesthesia, this can be done while the patient is awake or under deeper sedation.
This involves injecting anaesthetic agents into the areas around the spine to block pain in the lower half of the body. Common for procedures involving the abdomen or lower limbs, like C-sections or certain orthopedic surgeries.
The choice of anaesthesia is tailored to the patient's medical needs, the type of surgery or procedure, and other individual factors, and it's always discussed and planned in advance with the anaesthetist or healthcare team.
Understanding our fees and payment structure
We determine our anaesthetic fees based on the training, expertise and experience of our anaesthesiologists. Our fees are not determined by any medical aid rates. You will receive a separate account from the anaesthesiologist as our fees are not included in the surgeons' or the hospitals' fees.
As all medical insurance companies offer cover at different rates, your medical aid will reimburse you for your anaesthetic account at a rate based on the plan you have selected and the rules of your medical aid fund. Any amount not covered by your medical aid is for your own account and is your responsibility to pay. You may claim the additional amount from your gap cover if you have one. Our fees do not change based on your medical insurance or whether or not you have a gap cover. If you are concerned about being able to afford the outstanding amount you can speak to us in order to negotiate a payment plan. Patients without medical aid will be liable for the full account.
The cost of an anaesthetic is determined by the length and complexity of a case, along with other factors including pre-operative assessment, patient condition, pain control techniques and post-operative complications. As it is often difficult to predict in advance how long a procedure will take, it is not possible to give an exact estimate beforehand. You can phone us in advance for a cost estimate based on the average time taken for a particular procedure, but this is only an estimate and will be adjusted according the length of the procedure on the day, as well as the other factors mentioned.
Our cost estimates for anaesthesia do not include additional costs for ICU, pain control techniques, ultrasound, obesity, blood pressure control, age modifiers, fractures and emergency surgery or cases not booked on routine lists. These codes will be billed as per the South African Society of Anaesthesiologists' coding guidelines. If the procedure takes longer than the estimated time the cost will increase according to the duration of the procedure.
If your BMI (body mass index) is greater than 35 you will be charged an additional 50% of the anaesthetic fee (BMI = weight/height2). This is due to the increased complexity and potential complications of these cases, and is standard charging practice.
All payments must be made within 30 days of account receipt. All interest and legal fees that arise from any accounts that are not paid in full within 30 days will be for your account.
Please note that treatment of complications arising from anaesthesia or surgery may not be covered by your medical aid. It is still your responsibility to cover these costs. These may include the costs of other medical professionals and additional treatments.
If you have any questions regarding our fees or feel that you don't understand anything pertaining to your account please contact our office or speak to your anaesthesiologist when you meet them before surgery.
We're here to help. Contact us for any inquiries about patient information, billing, or our services.
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