Medico-legal Consulting & Court Attendance – terms and conditions
Dr Sharman and Dr Crowell can provide independent medical assessments and various other medico-legal consulting services.
Hobart Occupational Medicine believes in transparency when it comes to billing and accounts. Our accounts show the actual times and hourly rates for the staff that have worked on the report, including the actual costs for transcription of the dictated report.
Our fees for medico-legal reports are reviewed at least every 12 months. Current fees apply as follows.
Dr Peter Sharman & Dr Crowell
Consulting and report writing for most medico-legal consulting is charged at $505.00 per hour (plus GST). A lower rate of $405.00 per hour (plus GST) applies for some types of assessments where medico-legal advice is sought jointly by both parties to a dispute i.e. both the plaintiff and defendant lawyers agree to an assessment being conducted by our doctors or one of our doctors in involved in a jointly agreed multi-practitioner assessment.
Preparation of reports at the request of lawyers about patients receiving treatment at the practice is charged at a rate of $631.25 per hour (plus GST). The same rate applies for Independent Medico-legal Assessments conducted by Dr Sharman in relation to his specialised area of interest i.e. Upper Limb Pain related to computer work or overuse.
Where Dr Crowell undertakes an assessment, there is no additional charge for Dr Sharman’s involvement in reviewing report quality, but an additional fee might apply if Dr Sharman is directly involved in the assessment, by prior arrangement with the report requestor.
The fee for Dr Sharman to give evidence before the Workers’ Compensation Tribunal or other courts is $600.00 per hour (plus GST). Preparation and waiting time will be charged at $405.00 per hour (plus GST). Travel time to and from the court will be charged at $405.00 per hour (plus GST).
“Out of pocket” expenses, such as transcription of reports and the costs of accessing literature, will be charged at cost.
Administrative Charges
A non-refundable booking fee of $405.00 (plus GST) will be charged when arrangements are made for our doctors to attend the Tribunal (or other courtroom) to give expert evidence. This fee covers the administrative costs of arranging the attendance and/or changing the attendance time should that be necessary. The fee also covers the costs of cancellation of the attendance, provided the cancellation is made more than 24 hours before a scheduled attendance.
Non-attendance and cancellation fees will apply in some circumstances. We normally require at least 24 hours’ notice of cancellation of a medico-legal appointment (or notice on Friday for an appointment scheduled on Monday). Where no notice is provided and a scheduled medico-legal appointment does not proceed due to non-attendance or late attendance, a charge of up to $405.00 (plus GST) will normally apply. A charge of $405.00 (plus GST) will also apply where less than 24 hours’ notice is given of cancellation of a Tribunal (or other courtroom) attendance. Higher cancellation fees may apply if tribunal attendances are cancelled with minimal notice.
Terms of Business
Our normal business terms require payment of accounts within 14 days of issue of the invoice. A late payment fee of $75.00 will be applied where accounts remain unpaid beyond 30 days and an additional fee of 5% per month, if the account remains outstanding, will also apply.
We expect that legal practitioners requesting medico-legal reports, will ensure funding is available to pay medico-legal report fees within our terms of business as set out below. While we sometimes agree to arrangements for a reduction in fees or deferral of payment of fees to allow patients referred by their doctor to have necessary treatment, we cannot normally discount or extend payment times for medico-legal reports except in very exceptional circumstances (and only by prior arrangement with the legal practitioner concerned).
Any queries about billing or accounts, our billing policies should be directed to our Business Manager, Ms Ros Luck on 62240935 or email businessmanager@201davey.com.au.
See also our remittance advice procedure
Effective 01 July 2021
