A Referral is a letter from another doctor stating the reason why you require a specialist review. You need a referral for your account to be reimbursed by Medicare. A referral will contain details of the condition that requires an expert orthopaedic opinion for. The referrals can also contain other relevant information such as your past medical history, and what medications or allergies are relevant to you.

Without a referral, your account cannot be reimbursed by medicare meaning that the fee for the consultation will receive no reimbursement from Medicare. 

If you have been referred to see Dr Liew for your arthritic hip, and also have a painful knee that requires attention, you will need a referral which covers all of your conditions, as Medicare law requires a referral to specify each condition that you are being seen for.

To obtain a referral to see Dr Chien-Wen Liew, please see your General Practitioner, or Family Doctor. Each referral is valid for 12 months (except if the referral is from a Specialist – where it only lasts 3 months).

Please ensure that you have completed the new patient form sent to your email. If you have not received this, please contact us on 7077 0158 and our staff will check that the email on file is correct. We will require a valid Email Address AND Mobile phone number to be entered. If you do not have Email or Mobile, please input a trusted family members details here as we will send you information throughout your journey. 

Some appointments are urgent and require attention within a week. If your doctor decides that your condition cannot wait, then the referral needs to reflect the urgency so an appropriate appointment can be made.

Dr Chien-Wen Liew has developed strategies to see urgent cases within an appropriate timeframe. This sometimes means that appointments are double booked, or scheduled in tight time frames. In some circumstances, small delays are unavoidable, in order to provide the best care to all patients. Please be patient. If there are any prolonged delays, you will be notified in advanced.

There is a fee for consultation which is discounted for pensioners. Please bring your pensioner card with you if you feel you qualify for this discount. Initial consultation is $300 for an initial consultation, and $150 for review consultations. Medicare will rebate part of these fees. Dr Liew does not see Workcover or 3rd Party cases, but an appropriate referral can be suggested to you before seeing Dr Liew if you require.

Operations attract a set fee – This is dependent on the complexity of the operation being considered and in general is based off the AMA rates for surgery. The amount returned to you is different for different health funds. Our staff can guide you through this process if required prior to booking an appointment. In general, there is a copayment required, on top of the reimbursement that Medicare provides. 

Please note that surgery cancellations attract a fee if cancelled less than 10 days prior to surgery.

This is dependent on the type of surgery you require and its complexity. Patient specific technology requires the production of custom made preparation guides, which are made in Switzerland and shipped to Adelaide for each and every Total Hip Replacement and Total Knee Replacement operation. A wait time of up to 8 weeks from booking surgery depending on shipping and type of surgery can be expected.

What to Wear

Please wear comfortable clothing and comfortable shoes. I will not require you to remove your clothing unless there are unusual scars or skin issues that need to be identified.