catecholamine2
03-13-08, 09:44 AM
hi all,
Latest antipodean to join this vast forum. I only just discovered we had a regional forum for Oz!
Anyway, I'm just started down the adhd diagnosis/treatment journey of fun and games. (My 15yo son has been dxed adhd by a paediatric neurologist). Anyway, I've just starting to discover, as I'm sure many of you already well understand, that not all medical practitioners are equal when it comes to dxing/treating/understanding adhd. I suppose this should be self-evident, really, but the huge variance is what has surprised me. In fact, I'm looking around for a more suitable choice of medical practitioner for my son already.
So, to cut to the chase: Who's good and who's not so good in Brisbane? I appreciate this is a delicate subject, and necessarily subjective to a certain degree, so no names in the forum please, but contact via the "backchannel" (PM or email) would be appreciated.
One thing I've been surprised about is the variance in the Medicare "gap" between different practioners. One psychiatrist wanted $500+ for the first one hour consultation, with less than half of that rebatable from Medicare. Another psychiatrist quoted a more reasonable fee with a $90 gap.
One of the reasons I'm looking for a new psychiatrist/neurologist/behavioural paediatrition (the only three specialisations I've found that seem willing to deal with adhd) is that the fellow we're currently seeing (who has proposed the dx of adhd) wants my son to undergo a battery of psychological/neurological tests before he'll write the prescription for a stimulant.
Why? He wants a "baseline" result he can compare with follow-up testing every six or so.
Every set of test costs $450. No Medicare rebate. Yikes!
Also, unhappily, there is the _appearance_ of a potential conflict of interest here. All the testing is done within his practice. So it's not like the money for the testing is going to a third party -- it's ploughed straight back into his business.
He's made it clear he's inflexible on this too -- no testing, no script. He does this with every patient, he says. But $900 of non-rebatable testing every year seems a bit steep to keep the scripts current... so we're looking around.
I've been on the phone today. Interestingly, no-one else I spoke to does a battery of psychometric tests on a regular basis. One person commented "if you need a battery of tests to detect improvement, the medication isn't working".
Indeed.
Anyway, strange days. Off to see the Wizard...
Thanks for reading. Any wisdom appreciated. :)
Latest antipodean to join this vast forum. I only just discovered we had a regional forum for Oz!
Anyway, I'm just started down the adhd diagnosis/treatment journey of fun and games. (My 15yo son has been dxed adhd by a paediatric neurologist). Anyway, I've just starting to discover, as I'm sure many of you already well understand, that not all medical practitioners are equal when it comes to dxing/treating/understanding adhd. I suppose this should be self-evident, really, but the huge variance is what has surprised me. In fact, I'm looking around for a more suitable choice of medical practitioner for my son already.
So, to cut to the chase: Who's good and who's not so good in Brisbane? I appreciate this is a delicate subject, and necessarily subjective to a certain degree, so no names in the forum please, but contact via the "backchannel" (PM or email) would be appreciated.
One thing I've been surprised about is the variance in the Medicare "gap" between different practioners. One psychiatrist wanted $500+ for the first one hour consultation, with less than half of that rebatable from Medicare. Another psychiatrist quoted a more reasonable fee with a $90 gap.
One of the reasons I'm looking for a new psychiatrist/neurologist/behavioural paediatrition (the only three specialisations I've found that seem willing to deal with adhd) is that the fellow we're currently seeing (who has proposed the dx of adhd) wants my son to undergo a battery of psychological/neurological tests before he'll write the prescription for a stimulant.
Why? He wants a "baseline" result he can compare with follow-up testing every six or so.
Every set of test costs $450. No Medicare rebate. Yikes!
Also, unhappily, there is the _appearance_ of a potential conflict of interest here. All the testing is done within his practice. So it's not like the money for the testing is going to a third party -- it's ploughed straight back into his business.
He's made it clear he's inflexible on this too -- no testing, no script. He does this with every patient, he says. But $900 of non-rebatable testing every year seems a bit steep to keep the scripts current... so we're looking around.
I've been on the phone today. Interestingly, no-one else I spoke to does a battery of psychometric tests on a regular basis. One person commented "if you need a battery of tests to detect improvement, the medication isn't working".
Indeed.
Anyway, strange days. Off to see the Wizard...
Thanks for reading. Any wisdom appreciated. :)