A consultation fee is one number standing in for several different things, and it is rarely itemised anywhere. You pay it at booking, then work out afterwards which parts of your care it covered and which parts arrive as a separate bill. The gap between those two is where most of the confusion about telehealth pricing sits.
The fee buys clinician time and the work attached to it
An initial consultation at LeafLine Clinic is $79. That figure covers the appointment with an AHPRA-registered Clinician and the clinical work wrapped around it: the review of the history you bring, the questions asked during the appointment, the assessment the Clinician forms from both, and a care plan written up afterwards where the Clinician judges one appropriate.
The parts you never see are inside the same fee. Clinical notes get written and filed after you have logged off. If you consent to it, a letter goes to your regular GP so the person managing the rest of your health is not working from a gap. None of that is billed separately.
What sits outside the fee
Medication costs are separate. If a prescription is issued, you pay the dispensing pharmacy for what is dispensed, and that transaction has nothing to do with the consultation fee. A clinic that quotes you an all-in figure covering both is quoting something it cannot control, because it does not set pharmacy prices.
This is the single most common source of surprise. People book expecting one payment and meet two. Ask which is which before you pay anything.
Follow-up appointments are priced differently
Ongoing care is not a repeat of the first appointment, and it is not priced as one. LeafLine Clinic runs three consultation types:
- Initial consultation, $79. Assessment with an AHPRA-registered Clinician, including clinical review and care planning.
- Repeat long consultation, $69. A 20-minute follow-up for ongoing monitoring and any adjustments.
- Repeat short consultation, $59. A 10 to 15 minute follow-up for check-ins and prescription management.
There is also a $200 bundle covering an initial consultation plus three follow-ups, for people who already know their care will run over several appointments.
Medicare does not enter into it
Private telehealth consultations of this kind attract no MBS rebate. There is no bulk-billing arrangement and no gap payment to calculate, because there is nothing to claim back. The practical consequence: the fee is the same figure whether or not you hold a Medicare card, and it is payable by card at the time of booking rather than on the day.
The cancellation terms matter more than people expect
Life moves appointments around. What varies between clinics is what that costs you, and the answer is usually buried. LeafLine Clinic publishes the whole policy:
- Cancel more than 48 hours ahead and you get a full refund or a reschedule with no penalty.
- Cancel inside 48 hours and a fee of up to 50% of the consultation may apply.
- Miss the appointment without notice and the full fee is forfeited.
- Join more than 15 minutes late and the appointment may be treated as a missed one, with the full fee still applying.
That last line catches people. A video appointment feels informal enough that fifteen minutes seems like a rounding error, and it is not. Log in five minutes early and test your camera while you wait.
Four questions to put to any clinic
Whoever you book with, these four answers tell you what you are buying:
- Is the full schedule published on the website? Not a starting price. Every consultation type.
- Is the cancellation policy written down? A policy that only exists over the phone is a policy that can change.
- What does a follow-up appointment cost, and how often are they expected? The first appointment is rarely the whole cost of a year of care.
- Who do I pay for medication, and when do I find out that figure? If the answer is vague, keep asking.
Where LeafLine publishes it
Every figure above sits on the fees page, including the cancellation policy in full, and it was there before you rang. The how it works page sets out what happens at each appointment so you can see what the fee is buying at each stage. If you would rather ask a person, the free 10-minute info call is with the patient-support team and costs nothing.
For a wider view of what these appointments involve, what to expect from your first telehealth consultation covers the appointment itself, and understanding telehealth costs in Australia sets the pricing in a national context.
This article is general information only and is not medical advice. If your symptoms are severe, sudden, or worsening, contact your local doctor, an urgent care service, or call 000.
