Anaesthetic Fee Structure

The fees that anaesthesiologists charge are a summation of the preoperative consultation and a time based anaesthetic procedure fee. The consultation is needed to assess any patient risk factors and to enable planning of the anaesthetic management. The consultation fee makes up a significant percentage of our total anaesthetic fee and while this often seems inappropriate for patients the reasons are:

• Over the last decade there has been an unparalleled increase in consultations over procedure codes by the Medical Funders. Whilst the South African Society of Anaesthesiologists would have preferred a combined fee for the anaesthetic procedure and consultation this would have significantly disadvantaged us.
• The fee for consultation has been calculated on a time base. This is erroneous for anaesthesiologists as we are forced to assess patients often on the day of surgery (as most Medical Funders have blocked admission the night prior to major surgery) and in a limited time period prior to the commencement of the operating list. While the anaesthesiologist may only spend 5-10 minutes with you this time is used effectively to assess your recorded medical history, to perform an examination to exclude any anaesthetic risk factors and to plan the nature of the anaesthetic.

If your procedure is either unbooked prior to the start of the list or an emergency then this type of case attracts an additional 'emergency fee' irrespective of the time of day. If the attending anaesthesiologist needs to make a special trip to the venue were your procedure is booked this will attract an additional 'emergency travel' fee. These fees are included to remunerate anaesthesiologists for the disruption to their planned workday and to encourage timeous attendance at any emergency.