Canberra patients could be left unable to afford vital medical scans after a private provider said it could no longer afford to offer bulk billed services.
The change in fees comes as waiting times for some scans at public hospitals head past the six month mark.
Patients unable to afford scans
A patient from Canberra Hospital said her health is a "ticking timebomb" now she cannot afford critical ultrasounds, after Qscan Radiology ended bulk billing services.
Angela Brown attended Qscan Radiology for an appointment in July, and was told it would be the last scan the clinic could bulk bill for her.
She said she's been going to Qscan for several years for six-monthly ultrasounds on her liver, which has been severely damaged by antibiotics, and been bulk billed every time.
Ms Brown said she won't be able to pay for her scans if they're not bulk billed.
"Having these ultrasounds is a critical part of my treatment to measure how much my liver is deteriorating every six months, and without that, then they really have no idea what's going on," she said.
"You feel like you're walking around like a ticking timebomb, because you don't know how much it's progressed."
Bulk billing at an end
A Qscan spokesperson told The Canberra Times while there had been no formal agreement between Canberra Hospital and Qscan Radiology to bulk bill hospital outpatients, Qscan "has done so in the past when able".
"However, due to ever-increasing cost pressures combined with the high demands on our services, we are unable to continue to bulk bill these services," the spokesperson said.
While Ms Brown said she was told an ACT Health arrangement had expired, Qscan said they had never had a formal contract with the government agency.
Canberra Health Services told The Canberra Times there were two temporary agreements in 2023 and 2024 where outpatients from the hospital were referred to private clinics for MRIs and PET scans.
Those patients were all bulk billed, the health service said, and the contracts were only in place while radiology equipment at the hospital was being replaced.
Scans that are covered under the Medicare Benefits Schedule are bulk billed at Canberra Hospital, but scans that are not may incur a cost, according to the health service. Private bulk billing practices are at the discretion of the providers.
Long wait times in public system
Waiting times for radiology services at Canberra Hospital can stretch into months, which is why Ms Brown said her doctor referred her to a private clinic.
Canberra Health Services said the current wait time for routine outpatient ultrasounds at the hospital is between three to six months, and more than six months for MRIs. Patients have to wait less than one week for PET scans.
The service also said medical practitioners at Canberra Hospital can refer their patients to any public or private provider at any time.
Ms Brown said several other people in the waiting room with referrals from Canberra Hospital were told their appointments would no longer be bulk billed.
The clinic told her she would be charged about $200 per appointment going forward.
Ms Brown said she's not had to pay for her ultrasound at Qscan in the years she's been going there, with her referring doctor, who is based at Canberra Hospital, writing "bulk bill" on the referral form.
"[The doctors] basically said, you're not going to get into [the hospital] for at least a year or more, so go to Qscan or go to whichever, and they'll do it, and they'll bulk bill you," she said.
"And so I've been doing that every six months since then."
