Patient Information
Before your Visit
What to bring:
ID documents and/or medical aid details
Legal guardians or foster families to bring relevant legal paperwork
List of medications (if available)
Relevant investigations e.g. hearing tests, medical reports or scans. These can also be emailed to us to include in your file
In the waiting room
Referral letters are not essential, however certain medical aids require a referral letter to ensure payment at your insured rate. Kindly check with your chosen medical aid.
Arrival 10minutes prior to your appointment allows for a more relaxed consultation, paperwork completion and helps keep us on schedule.
At your first visit, we will require routine personal and medical aid details- this will be used to create your patient file and help us to contact you.
We will also ask you to review and sign a POPIA act consent form.
If we are running behind schedule, we will inform you. We never intend to be delayed- delays may be due to Dr Brownell attending to a sick or more complex patient, or an emergency. Our aim is to provide comprehensive care to all patients.
Costs/ Billing
-
This practice charges rates recommended by the ENT Society of South Africa.
This may be above a rate that your medical aid offers to cover (depending on which medical aid/plan you have selected).
We are not contracted to medical aids as a designated service provider (DSP).
The patient is liable for payment on the day of the appointment via card payments (no cash). Consultation fees do not include additional procedures done in the rooms.
Medical aid reimbursement depends on your selected medical aid plan and its rules and/or exceptions. An invoice will be generated for submission by yourself to your medical aid.
Surgeries are charged at private rates. This fee may be fully/partially covered by your medical aid, depending on your selected medical aid/plan.
We strongly advise the use of Gap cover as this may help to cover outstanding surgery balances not covered by medical aids- otherwise patients are liable for shortfalls.
An estimated surgery quote will be provided prior to surgery for patient review, and submission to medical aid for authorisation.
-
This practice charges private rates recommended by the ENT Society of South Africa and is not contracted in with medical aids. Out of hospital rates are around 165% and in hospital rates are around 217%. Medical aids base their individual scheme rates on the National Health Reference Price List (NHRPL), what they deem as their 100%. The NHRPL was decided upon by the Department of Health and has not been increased since 2006. It does not correlate with the true costs of running a practice and has been estimated at least 3 x lower than required.
In the case of the SA Private Practitioners Forum vs the Department of Health (July 2010), Mr Acting Justice Ebersohn found the NHRPL to be unreasonably low and irrational, declaring it invalid. Based on this judgement, the decision was made that practitioners are allowed to set their own private rates.
Reimbursement by medical aid depends on the specific plan you have chosen and its rules/exceptions. Therefore it is not guaranteed that your bill will be entirely covered by your medical aid. The patient remains liable for any outstanding balances.
We strongly advocate that you invest in GAP cover to help with outstanding costs.
For queries regarding accounts, feel free to contact us.
Before/After Surgery
-
Dr Brownell will discuss risks, benefits, surgical procedure and time off work/school required, during the consultation to allow for questions before signing a consent form.
You will receive a quote for surgery (with related codes) which you can submit to your medical aid for pre-authorisation.
Post operative consults are included in the surgical cost.
Feel free to contact us should you have any questions.
-
No eating/drinking 6 hours before surgery (including coffee, tea, formula, breast milk).
Your child may have clear fluids (water, clear apple juice) 2 hours before surgery.
Present to the hospital admissions department/ ward at 06:30 for admission, paperwork and surgical preparation.
Bring:
ID, Medical aid details, favourite soft toy/blanket and comfort items, a list of chronic medications.
-
Most surgeries are day cases and you are likely to be discharged by the afternoon, however Dr Brownell will discuss this with you in person. This is dependant on your anaesthetic fitness and overall health and the nature of the procedure planned.
After the surgery Dr Brownell will discuss the outcome of surgery with you, allowing for questions.
On discharge you will receive an aftercare information sheet and follow-up date.
Post-operative related consultations (up to 1 month after surgery) are included in your surgical fee.
Should you have any post operative concerns feel free to contact the practice on any of the following platforms: Whatsapp, consulting rooms or via email.