Do I need a referral to see Dr Cassie Kenna?

No - I am a general practitioner so you do not need a referral to make an appointment.

If you are seeing another practitioner, I welcome any correspondence from them that will assist in forming a collaborative team approach to your care.

Do I need to attend the appointment in person or can I just do a Telehealth consultation?

I welcome both face to face appointments and Telehealth appointments if that is more convenient. Face to face appointments are eligible for a Medicare Rebate. The Australian Government has recently made Telehealth appointments eligible for Medicare Rebates under certain circumstances and if this is your preferred mode of appointment, please check with the reception team at Zest Medical to check whether you would qualify to receive a rebate. If you have a Telehealth appointment, you may be required to do a follow up appointment in person if you require an examination.

What are the fees for a consultation?

All first appointments are scheduled for 60 minutes and follow up review appointments are generally made for 30 minutes. For routine appointments the fees/medicare rebates are time based and are as follows:

Short Review : Under 20 minutes - total cost $120 - Medicare Rebate $42.85, out of pocket $77.15

Routine Review: 20-30 minutes - total cost $195 - Medicare rebate $82.90, out of pocket $112.10

First appointment: 40 to 59 minutes- total $330- Medicare rebate $122.15, out of pocket $207.85

First appointment: 60 minutes or more - total $390 - Medicare rebate $197.90, out of pocket $192.10

Medicare rebates for some specific issues such as mental health care items attract different fees and can be discussed individually. A detailed list of fees and medicare rebates for consults at Zest Medical can be found on www.zestmedical.com.au or by calling the clinic to discuss.

Please note that if you need to reschedule or cancel your appointment, it would be appreciated if you can give us as much notice as possible. It is difficult to fill appointment slots that are cancelled at the last minute and this leads to significant impacts on our small business. Any appointments cancelled with less than 24 business hours notice will incur a cancellation fee of $75.

Do you keep a waiting list as there is a waiting time to get an appointment?

FOR NEW PATIENTS:

Cassie is currently able to accept a limited number of new patients - these appointments are only available by calling the clinic at Zest Medical.

EXISTING PATIENTS:

If you are an existing patient and are unable to find a suitable time online, please call our reception team. I set aside appointment times for existing patients to ensure they can be reviewed and some of these appointments are only available by calling reception. You can also be added to the wait list which is reviewed regularly.

ALL PATIENTS:

For all patients, please talk to reception if you feel you have an urgent issue to allow us to provide a timely appointment.

What should I bring to my first appointment?

It is helpful if you can bring a list of all your medications (names and doses) and allergies. If you have seen other practitioners and had some investigations, it will save time if you can bring along all relevant imaging/X-ray or ultrasound results as well as pathology test results.

What should I expect at my first appointment?

On making your appointment, you should be sent a health questionnaire. Please fill this in prior to your appointment.

I aim to see all my patients on time but occasionally there may be circumstances out of my control that affect this. You are welcome to call ahead to check if there are any forseeable delays.

At your appointment, we will go over your current concerns, medical history and relevant family history as well as finding out a bit more about your lifestyle. I may need to do a physical examination before working with you to arrange a management plan.

If you have a list of concerns or symptoms, please feel free to bring these along so we can work through the list.

Sometimes you may need to have further tests organised and the results of these can be discussed at a follow up appointment. You may be eligible to have the follow up consultation by Telehealth and I will advise if this is possible. Please ensure you follow up all results and don’t just assume they are normal.

If you require referral to another specialist or practitioner, I have a list of trusted colleagues to assist in your ongoing care.

Do you prescribe compounded bioidentical hormones?

I don’t currently prescribe compounded bioidentical hormones and my reasons for this are outlined here:

https://www.menopause.org.au/health-info/fact-sheets/bioidentical-hormone-therapy

I am very happy to talk this through in more detail at an appointment and provide you with alternative options which can include the pharmaceutical grade ‘body-identical’ hormones.

What if my problem is not women’s health or mental health related? Can you be my regular GP?

At Zest Medical, I see women exclusively for women’s health related services and mental health concerns. If you have another medical issue that needs addressing during our consultation, I can refer you onto one of my trusted general practice colleagues. I recommend that you maintain an ongoing relationship with a general practitioner for other health related issues. If you don’t have a regular GP, we can discuss options at your appointment. I spend many hours every year keeping up to date with the latest research and best practice in women’s health and my scope of practice is now focused on women’s health. My appointments are all for a longer duration and bookings are usually not available for several weeks so I am unable to provide regular acute and day to day general practice services. If you would like me to communicate with your regular GP about your management, then please let me know at the time of consultation and I can to send them letters and copies of results with your consent.

Do I need to make a long appointment even if my issue is a small one?

At Zest Medical, all intial appointments are allocated a minimum of 60 minutes in order to allow sufficient time to explore your medical history and all relevant issues. Women’s health issues are often multifaceted and require extra time to adequately assess and manage. If your issue is one that can be safely managed in a shorter time frame, you will only be charged for the time that the appointment takes.

Subsequent appointments are usually scheduled for 30 minutes.

Will my information be kept private and confidential?

I am committed to ensuring your privacy and confidentiality is protected at all times. Your personal information is professionally managed in accordance with all Australian Privacy Principles. Further information regarding the policy for consultations at Zest Medical can be found at zestmedical.com.au/privacy-policy .

Further information for the privacy policy regarding use of this website can be found here.