Did you use a paediatrician?

[happychild]

My bub was born in a private hospital and we got allocated a paediatrician. He was nice and did one initial consult and a follow up for our baby.

When we left hospital, he said we will need to make an appointment with him in 6 weeks time.

I have a few questions:

- Did you all have a paediatrician for your baby? If yes, what is their role? how are they different to your normal GP?
- We just got sent an invoice. Was wondering whether we can claim any of the cost from Medicare or private health fund.

Thanks!

[borntobemummy]

nope, I thought they were specialists for when there is a problem too big for a GP.

[JabberJaw]

My kids saw a Pead when born (free at my hospital) and My DD2 and DS has seen them privately because of medical reasons.

( DD is lactose intolerant, DS has a blood condition requiring transfusions)

We really only saw the Pead for the initial consult for DD and follow up was through GP. Son Similar but he has check up through hospi and our 'private' paid Pead happens to be the Pead he sees at hospi so its free!

Other 2 kidlets haven't been to the Pead privately.

I am pretty sure i claimed the private visits through Medicare :yes:

[Mummaholic]

totally normal for most private hospys.

i got a little from medicare, in hospital visits (if bub is actually admitted) you can claim some from insurance too.

[mim1]

My son was sick after birth and spent 8 days in special care being looked after by a paed. Didn't get a bill - he sent his bill directly to the health fund. It is (partially or fully) covered by your health fund and medicare. Ring your health fund to work out the best place to send it. My health fund wants us to send hospital bills to them and if need be they then pass it onto medicare.

As my ds was sick in hospital he needed to go to the paed for a 6 week checkup. If he was well at that time it would have been the last visit. BUT, he developed bad reflux and we've seen the paed lots over the last 2.5 years - although it's been nearly 6 months now between visits.

[gotmilk]

Yep, we had paed visited us every day when we were at the hospital (private) and after I asked local GP for a referral so we can go to see him when needed.
Though I was told that I can claim back from Medicare only and that my private fund does not cover paed...but maybe it depends on private fund or level of cover as I can not claim from them for paed consults...
I checked again recently as I am about to change my cover and go with the different provider...otherwise paed visits are costly
p.s. I do not trust our GP so we go to paed all the time

[reAllytee]

Things were bad for DS1's birth so we had a Paed in the room & he was then checked over thoroughly when born. He was then checked again the following day & then again to be discharged where they found he had a tongue tie so gave me a referral to a different Paed in his private rooms at 6wks.

Other than that 6wk check up Boof only ever saw a g.p until 12wks where we saw the Paed again due to a certain problem which was dealt with & we never saw another again.

With G we saw one on discharge & that was that until we spent nearly every week at the g.p ( not our usual one ) with a very sick bub. Finally got a referral to the above one who treated me like a complete moron ( to which I now know HE is the moron ! ) so went back to the g.p we were seeing who treated me the same anyways ! Finally got the courage to see our normal g.p who referred us onto a different Paed who was ok at first but turned out to be another moron ! G was admitted into hospital & seen by a fantastic Pediatric GI who later advised of a great Paed out our way who is trustworthy & lovely & we have been seeing him every 4-6wks since !

G has issues though that need to be monitored & that we cant really trust a g.p with otherwise we wouldnt have a need for one !

G has a HCC so our appts are covered by Medicare otherwise we would pay a set amount & get something like two thirds back !

[Opinionated]

Unfortunately yes. I think the paed is an associate of my ob. Both times she turned up, gave my baby the once over and sent a bill for $240.

First baby she recommended supplemental feeding at birth. I used ebm, but still totally stuffed up our feeding.

Second baby she totally missed a problem that was not sorted until 6 weeks.:banghead: I told her how her bad advice first time around had caused us terrible feeding issues. "Oh, that can happen" she says. Would have been nice if she had of mentioned it at the time.

Didn't pay the bill for 14 months because she annoyed me so much. Waited till the sheriff was going to knock on the door. haha.

Unless your child has an issue, I wouldn't bother with a paediatrician.

[mim1]

Just a note that if you see a paed in his/her rooms it is partially (or fully - depending on the bill) covered by medicare and it is never covered by private health. That's the way the system works.

[gotmilk]

Just a note that if you see a paed in his/her rooms it is partially (or fully - depending on the bill) covered by medicare and it is never covered by private health. That's the way the system works.

My extras include physiotherapy, which covers paediatric assesments as well and the assesments can be done at paed rooms.
So as long as it has to do with physio I can claim.

[Bunnyhugs]

Nope we didn't have a paediatrician for DS as a bub. We only saw one in hospital when he was admitted for febrile convulsions and that was on 2 separate occasions.

I thought they were specialist doctors for when GP care isn't enough.

[laurie021]

My baby saw a pead at birth and every day we were in hospital we were private. We then saw him at 6 weeks and he detected a heart murmur. we are now seeing a cardiologist.

Since the murmur was detected no GP we have seen has detected it until i mention it.

I think Pediatricians are well worth the money and yes you can claim a portion of the fee's back from medicare!

[crazymuma]

In the almost 5 years I have been a mother I have never taken either child to one.
My children are both lactose intolerant, both had allergic reactions to pennicillan and my son suffers convulsions when his temp rises and at no point (not even with the hospital stays) has any doctor even mentioned we should see one.

I say if you can afford it then go - lord knows if I had the money I would have gone on a few occassions.

[Hokey Pokey]

We have only been a few times and that is for issues that the GP can't help us with. We could claim some back from medicare too but it was still quite expensive!

[Sheer Bliss]

:yes: bubs were all checked over by a paed while in hospy (private hospy) We were never sent a bill as all my babies have been pre-term and admitted to the SCN, so the bill went straight to the hospy and our PHI covered it. Friends at the same hospy got a bill from the paed as there bubs were not admitted to the nursery.

We had a follow-up appt with DS1 and the twins (well, we have an appt for them next week) as they were SCN for a week, and very little bubbas with lots of weight loss, feeding problems, temp issues and breathing probs. With DS1, it was just the one appt, and he was doing beautifully by then, so the paed said only to come back and see him if we had any concerns. He is a lovely man, which is why we requested him again this time!

[TripleTime]

We'll see a pead/neo nate untill we are 2yrs corrected age (25months actual age), will all be through the hospital due the the Triplets being in NICU & 3 months early.

Most of the time you see a pead when its something your GP cant handle & the issue needs special attention.

[Amara]

I think you'll find that's a private hospital thing. I gave birth in a public hospital & was not told to see a paed.

My son was in special care for 5 nights & was seen by a number of paeds in that time as he was ill and again he was seen by one on discharge & it was all free. I checked on discharge if he needed to see one in the future & was told that there was no need as he is now well & paeds are for sick children.

My GP (who bulk bills) did the 6 week check & has also done the referral to the ENT specialist my sonhas to go to due to fluid in his ears so at no stage has a paed been necessary. From what I can tell if anything is actually wrong with the bub & they need treatment or an op of some sort they generally just refer you on to a specialist just like a GP does but charge you a whole lot more for it.

[tomtom]

We have never used a pead, but then again we have been lucky enough to have never had anything seriously wrong.

[MissMetal]

I took DS to a Paed yesterday for the very first time (he is 4 months) but thats because he had issues that the regular GP's couldnt deal with, so they gave me a referral to see one... I was actually surprised as I wasnt charged anything :smiliedance: