Fees and accounts

If you have private health insurance, please speak to your health fund before your admission to hospital to ensure you understand your level of cover. 

You may find that your health insurer does not fully cover your stay, and that an out-of-pocket cost is required. Estimated out-of-pocket expenses are payable on or before admission. These are estimates only, and additional costs may be incurred based on your treating Doctors’ findings, and/or additional investigations, and/or treatment required during your admission.

You are not required to pay the portion of your account that is covered by your health insurer. The Hospital will claim these benefits from your insurer on your behalf.

Important questions to ask your health insurer include:

• Does my policy cover me for this procedure or service?
• What level of cover do I have?
• Do I have to contribute to the hospital costs (e.g. is there an excess or co-payment payable?)
• Have I served all waiting periods for my health fund?

If you are self-insured, paying the full hospital account yourself, you will need to contact your relevant Mater Private Hospital to obtain an estimate before your admission. Self-insured patients are required to pay for all estimated hospital costs on admission.

To assist us in providing an accurate estimate, you will need to provide as much information as possible about your stay. This would include your CMBS (procedure) numbers for your proposed theatre procedure/s, prostheses items to be used (such as screws or mesh) and proposed length of stay. Your treating doctor can assist with this information.

Estimates provided are based on the information available at the time and are subject to change.

If any aspect of your stay changes due to medical necessity, for example, your doctor performs a different or modified procedure, the doctor uses additional or different prostheses or the length and type of accommodation changes, this will affect the cost.

If you are a DVA Gold Card holder no prior approval is necessary; however, if you are a White Card holder Mater Health will seek approval from DVA prior to your admission to hospital. Unless approval is received, your account is payable prior to admission.

Department of Veterans' Affairs (DVA) patients will have their account directly sent to the DVA for payment.

If you are covered by the Australian Defence Force's healthcare we will require your defence approval and EP identification number prior to admission.

While we're primarily a private hospital network, some hospitals within our network have agreements with Queensland Health to also provide services to public patients.

Public patients who are eligible under Medicare are not required to pay for their stay in hospital, however there may be other costs incurred by public patients, including:

• Discharge Medications
• If you are admitted for more than 35 days and are not an acute patient, you may be required to pay a daily contribution

If the above costs apply to you, you will receive an invoice for payment, either prior to being discharged or during your stay. This can be paid at the cashier onsite or via our website.

Payment portal

Medication Costs

At the conclusion of your stay, you may be dispensed discharge medications by the onsite pharmacy. The invoice for these discharge medications will be provided with this pack. This should be paid for prior to leaving the hospital by visiting the cashier or you may pay online after you have returned home and the information for this will be on the invoice. You may be contacted by our accounts team for payment should this not be actioned in time.

Compensation patients need to ensure their admission has been approved by the appropriate insurance company prior to admission. Payment for additional costs based on your treating Doctors’ findings, and/or additional investigations or treatment required during your admission that are not covered, will be invoiced to you directly for payment.

If you have travel insurance, hospital policy requires for you to pay for your hospital stay before your admission, unless approval has been given by Mater prior to admission.

After you leave Hospital, you may receive accounts for other charges incurred during your stay that are not the responsibility of the Hospital. These are charged separately, and may include fees regarding, but not limited to:

• Allied health care providers (eg: Physiotherapist)
• Anesthetist 
• Doctor
• Intensivist
• Paediatrician
• Pathology
• Pharmacy
• Radiology
• Surgeon
• Surgical Assistant

We recommend you check your level of coverage with your individual health insurer prior to your admission, and ensure you understand all out of pocket costs and/or exclusions/restrictions that may apply to your admission.

You are also responsible for other accounts that are not included in your estimate and are not funded by private health insurers.  These may include (but are not limited to:

• Ambulance transfers
• Boarder accommodation and meals
• Non-medicare items or services
• Non-medical services, personal items and incidentals
• Pharmacy, including discharge medications and medications not related to your treatment
• Visitor meals

For your convenience, at all Mater facilities, we accept payment in cash, EFTPOS, Visa, Mastercard and most credit cards on arrival with our Admissions team. 

If you are a patient at one of our South East Queensland facilities, you can pay your bills with our secure and quick online payment portal or via our 24 hours Pay by Phone service. The phone numbers for payment are included on each invoice. If you have any questions, a contact number for enquiries will be printed on your invoice.