cataract surgery cost

On arrival you will be greeted by one of the friendly staff at Melbourne Comprehensive Eye Surgeons, MCES. The receptionist will confirm your personal details and request your current Medicare, pension and/or private health insurance card as well as check that your referral is current. You may be asked to watch or review some informative patient material in order to get the most out of your consultation.

Following this, an ophthalmic technician will accompany you to our testing room where preliminary tests and investigations will be undertaken before you see the ophthalmologist. On most occasions dilating drops will be instilled into your eyes, the drops will usually take about 20 minutes to work, and will leave your eye blurred for at least 2 hours. Driving is not recommended.

Once the preliminary tests have been completed and the drops have worked you will see one of our ophthalmologists. They will perform a thorough eye examination and advise you of any condition you have and the need for any treatment. Some treatments can be performed at the initial visit.

Your ophthalmologist will advise you on whether a follow up appointment is required. If so, our receptionist will book your next appointment after your consultation has concluded. If you purchase a package all investigations and procedures performed are included in the one low fee.

You should expect to be at the clinic for at least 2 hours. Glaucoma initial appointments can take 2 ½ hours. This time allows for dilation of the eyes and any tests to be carried out. In some conditions further testing or treatment may be necessary and as a result, your visit can take longer.

  • Your most recent glasses
  • A list of your current medications
  • A current referral if this has not been forwarded by your referring practitioner
  • Medicare, pension and private health insurance information
  • Any eye drops you are taking

For the vast majority of patients your pupils will need to be dilated. Our doctors are unable to complete a full examination without dilated pupils and this could potentially result in missed diagnosis.

It is best not to drive. Once your pupils are dilated your vision may be blurry for up to 4 hours.

Initial appointment costs vary depending on the reason you have been referred to see us. Please see the section on our packages for more information. Review appointments generally cost between $150- $170, you will receive $39.25 back from Medicare.

Eye injections are bulk billed. Diabetic Eye Screening is bulk billed.

There will be no additional cost for investigations performed at your first visit if you are on a package.

A package is a fixed price that covers the consultation, investigations and any procedures that are generally performed for a certain presentation. Most of our patients present with conditions that are included within our packages.

Most of our procedures are included in our packages. If you are not on a package or if your procedure is not a part of the package, you will be fully advised of any additional costs prior to undertaking the procedure.

No discounts apply for packages. However, pensioners receive discounted fees for any investigations and procedures at Melbourne Comprehensive Eye Surgeons that are not included within a package.

Yes, all accounts must be settled on the day of your consultation. Once fully paid, we can electronically submit your claim to Medicare for you to receive a small refund. Usually the refund is in your account within 24 hours.

Please ensure you have your bank details registered with Medicare to access electronic claiming.

It is vital that you have an up-to-date referral. If you do not you will not be eligible for the Medicare rebate and you will suffer significant out-of-pocket expenses. It is your responsibility to have an up-to-date referral.

Health insurance does not cover the cost for out-patient appointments, investigations or procedures.

Cataract surgery at MCES  are very affordable starting from $1600 per eye out-of-pocket for uninsured patients. The cost of surgery varies considerably depending on which private health fund you are with and what level of cover you have. It is not possible to give an accurate quote here. However, if you have top level hospital cover with a good health fund your surgeon gap fee will range between $200-$500 per eye for cataract surgery.

We are happy to provide repeat prescriptions for ongoing patients of the clinic, please call and advise us of what you need. However, if you need a repeat prescription your GP or local optometrist may also be able to provide this.

If you have an eye emergency call our reception staff as soon as possible between 8.30am-5.00pm Monday-Friday. They will be able to advise if we can see you in a timely manner or if you need to present to the Emergency Department at The Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital.

The clinic is conveniently located on Bell Street. It is between Oriel Road and Darebin Creek almost opposite Aldi. Ample on-site parking is provided and there is a bus stop right outside the front of the clinic.

Your record will be kept on our secure server and backed up daily. All records are encrypted and only stored on secure Australian based servers. In order to protect the environment all medical records are electronic with no permanent paper copies retained by the clinic.

The Medicare safety net provides financial assistance to Australian Citizens who require regular medical care. The safety net will reimburse you up to 80% of most out-of-pocket medical costs once an annual threshold has been reached. The threshold differs depending on whether you are a non-concession or concession cardholder.

The ophthalmologists at Melbourne Comprehensive Eye Surgeons participate in a ‘Known Gap Cover’ scheme for most private in-patient hospital procedures. Unfortunately, medical re-bates have failed to keep up with costs and it is not feasible to provide ‘no gap cover’. For some health funds and some procedures rebates remain so low that we cannot even provide gap-cover. While we apologise if this causes inconvenience we do encourage you to take this up with your health fund.

Most glaucoma patients will need a visual field at every visit. It is important to have a field test regularly, because this is the best way to determine if your glaucoma is stable or is causing progressive damage. Visual field can be time consuming and Melbourne Comprehensive Eye Surgeons offers discounts on clinic fees for patients who can have their field on an alternative day.

In some instances we may be able to provide assistance to patients to pay their procedures in installments. If this is something that is required please discuss it with your doctor or our office manager.