GI Pathology provides “no gap” billing (i.e. no out-of-pocket costs) for patients with private insurance from any complying health fund.

We have agreements with most health funds allowing us to bill them directly, so the patient does not receive an account for pathology. For health funds that have not entered into a direct billing agreement, we will send an account to the patient, but the full cost will still be covered.

Patients without private health insurance will generally be charged the Medicare Schedule fee, of which Medicare covers 75%, with the remaining 25% payable by the patient. However, bulk billing of uninsured patients can be arranged by special request.

Routine endoscopic biopsies are usually reported within 1 business day. Some cases require additional studies and these will take a little longer. If a case is complex and requires extended work-up, a preliminary report will be issued and/or the case will be discussed with the referring specialist.

Surgical resection specimens are generally reported in 3 to 4 business days, depending on the level of complexity.

Histopathology and immunohistochemistry are performed at our West Leederville laboratory. In some cases, other pathology tests (that we do not perform) are required in addition to histopathology. For example, additional samples may be collected for microbiologic culture or flow cytometry. In this instance, we will refer and deliver the non-histopathology items to PathWest.

Pathologist contact details are provided to all referrers, who are welcome to call during or outside business hours for advice on ordering of examinations and interpretation of results.

GI Pathology regards multi-disciplinary meetings as a vital component of quality patient care, and pathologist attendance at these is accordingly given a high priority.

Advice can also be provided regarding completion of request forms, specimen labelling, packaging and storage, criteria for acceptance of samples, and making verbal requests for further examinations.