Endocrinologists are charging significantly less than most other ‘office-based’ specialties in private settings and bulk-billing almost a third of all consultations, new figures show.

The data come from the federal government’s troubled Medical Costs Finder website, which is now accepting fee information from individual doctors from 11 specialties after a $17 million relaunch last December.

The Department of Health says endocrinologists can register their interest to join the site and will eventually be able to input their fees for initial and follow-up consultations.

Other specialists, such as cardiologists and gastroenterologists, can share their fees charged for procedures such as colonoscopy, coronary angiography, heart catheterisation and stent insertion.

So far, no few specialists have taken up the offer, and the site was displaying the individual details of just half a dozen doctors around the country when the limbic checked last week.

But the site is now displaying updated aggregate Medicare data, revealing 32% of initial endocrinologist appointments were bulk-billed in 2021-22.

Of the 58% of initial consults to which a gap fee was applied, patients were charged $262 on average, coming out as $125 after the Medicare rebate.

The site also shows there were wide variations in the fees charged by endocrinologists, with the top 10% most expensive initial consults having out-of-pocket costs of at least $215 versus $65 for the bottom decile.

There was also significant regional variation when it came to endocrinologist fees.

Initial attendances (MBS item 110)

Endocrinologists’ subsequent consultations showed similar patterns, with 32% bulk-billed and the rest having an $82 median out-of-pocket cost (after $68 Medicare rebate)

Bulk-billing rates for these consultations ranged from 49% in the ACT to just 18% in Western Australia.

Endocrinologists in Queensland charged the highest fees at $170 on average, according to the figures.

Subsequent attendances (MBS item 116)

The updated site also includes detailed fee information for about 100 procedural items covered by Medicare, including the typical private hospital fees and those covering specialists, anaesthetists and assistant surgeons.

At a webinar earlier this year, officials stressed they were still hoping to expand participation of individual specialists in the site, arguing recruitment was expected to build with additional exposure.

They also argued there was significant interest from the public, claiming the database was already receiving about 6,000 hits per month.

MBS item 110 (rebate $135): initial consult

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MBS item 116 (rebate $68): follow-up consult

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