Haematologists are charging significantly less than most other ‘office-based’ specialties in private settings and bulk-billing above half 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, including haematologists, after a $17 million relaunch last December.

The Department of Health says haematologists can register their interest and will 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, few specialists have taken up the offer, with the site displaying the individual details of just half a dozen doctors around the country when the limbic checked last week.

However the site is now displaying updated aggregate Medicare data, revealing that 52% of initial haematologist appointments were bulk-billed in 2021-22.

Of the 48% of initial consults to which a gap fee was applied, patients were charged $250 on average, coming out as $115 after the Medicare rebate.

By contrast, 26% of initial rheumatology appointments claimed under MBS item 110 were bulk-billed, leaving the rest with an average out-of-pocket cost of $155.

Oncologists were the specialists most likely to bulk-bill, with 75% of their initial consults having no out-of-pocket costs.

The site also reveals wide variations in the fees charged by haematologists, with the top 10% most expensive initial consults having out-of-pocket costs of at least $185 versus $60 for the bottom decile.

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

Initial attendances (MBS item 110)

Haematologists’ subsequent consultations showed similar patterns, with 63% bulk-billed and the rest having a $57 median out-of-pocket cost (after $68 Medicare rebate)

Bulk-billing rates for these consultations ranged from 80% in NSW to just 35% in Western Australia.

Endocrinologists in the ACT charged the highest fees at $160 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.

For example, the site shows that for heart angiogram with or without catheterisation (MBS items 38252 and 38218), 16% of privately insured patients had an out-of-pocket cost.

For this procedure, Medicare paid $1000 on average and health funds paid $800, according to the site.

In addition, it says the hospital fees for this procedure were typically $4,200, covered mostly by health funds depending on a patient’s level of insurance.

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

^{*after Medicare rebate}

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

^{*after Medicare rebate}