Pain Specialist Melbourne

Frequently Asked Questions

• What type of patients do we treat?

  • We accept people under Workcover Insurance
  • We accept patients under Department of Veteran Affairs or Defence Health
  • We accept Private patients who have private health insurance
  • We provide a discount for Private patients who have a Pension concession card.
  • We are unable to provide a discount for Private patients who have a Healthcare concession card or Disability concession card

• What type of Medical Reports can we provide?

  • We can provide medical reports for Conciliation if you are under Workcover or TAC Insurance (ACCS)
  • Medical reports as requested by your Legal team (Treating Health Practitioners Report)
  • Total and Permanent Disability Report (TPD)
  • Independent Medicolegal Assessments (IMEs)
  • Treating Health Practitioners Report as requested by your Insurer if under Workcover/ TAC

  The above reports require prepayment of Report Fee before a medical report is generated. It can take approximately two weeks to provide the report after payment is made. However, this is variable and depends on Dr Mittal’s clinical demands and duties at the time.

  We do not provide reports or letters for:

  • National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS)
  • Centrelink

For Referrers

• How do I make a referral?

  • By Sending a referral to our email: [email protected]
  • By Faxing a referral to (03) 9012 1423
  • Completing an online referral form on this website – to be completed by Medical and Allied Health Professionals only. (Please attach specific patient information to this form): www.persistentpainsolutions.com.au
  • Contacting us directly via phone for urgent referrals: (03) 9875 8226. This is for Medical and Allied Health Professionals only.

For New Patients – Appointments

• What do I need to be referred to Dr Mittal?

  Your General Practitioner or Specialist can write a referral to Dr Mittal that can be faxed or emailed to us for triage.

• How do I book an initial appointment?

  Once we receive your referral, we will call you within 1 week to book an initial appointment at your preferred location.

  If we miss you, we will leave an SMS message and try up to three times before discharging your referral. Please call us at (03) 9875 8226 to make the new appointment at your preferred location.

  Please note that appointments will not be booked over email correspondence.

  An initial patient appointment can be made only once we have received your referral.

  If you are under Workcover, TAC or DVA, then you will require a Valid Approval before the date of the appointment. If an approval is not received by 2 Business Days prior to the booked new patient appointment, it will be cancelled. You will then be required to send us a Valid Approval prior to a booking date being offered again.

• What should I bring to my first appointment?

  Make sure that your Referral and any test results that are relevant have been emailed or faxed. If you are under Workcover, your Approval also needs to be emailed or faxed to us.

  Please bring your identification cards including Medicare, Private Health Fund, DVA and Pension cards.

  If you are under Workcover or TAC, please bring your Claim number and details of your Insurer and Case Manager.

• Do I need to fill a New Patient Registration form prior to my appointment?

  You will be requested to fill in a New Patient Registration form on the day.

  It is preferable for this to be completed online prior to the appointment date. You will be sent information with a link to the Online Registration Form a few days prior to the Initial appointment.

• Do I need to confirm my initial appointment?

  You will be sent an SMS to confirm your booked initial appointment at 7 days prior to your appointment. If we do not receive confirmation of your appointment by 2 Business Days prior to booking date, your appointment will be cancelled, and you will be informed of the cancellation via SMS. You will then be requested to contact us via phone to reschedule the appointment.

• How do I reschedule or cancel my appointment?

  Please call us a minimum of 2 business days prior to your appointment to reschedule or cancel an upcoming appointment.

  Please note that appointments will not be rescheduled or cancelled over email correspondence.

• What if I am in too much pain to attend my appointment?

  Please call us on the day of your appointment and we will work with you to provide the best alternative for your situation

For Existing Patients – Appointments

• How do I book a follow up appointment?

  If it is a follow up appointment, then it will be booked at the time of your last appointment. If this has not been done, please call us at (03) 9875 8226 to book your follow up appointment.

  Please note that appointments will not be booked over email correspondence.

  We will require an up-to-date Referral from your Referring Practitioner prior to the appointment date. If an up-to-date Referral is not received by 2 Business days prior to the booked new patient appointment, it will be cancelled. You will then be required to send us the up-to-date Referral prior to a booking date being offered again.

  If you are under Workcover, TAC or DVA, we require a Valid Approval before the date of the appointment. If an approval is not received at 2 Business Days prior to the booked new patient appointment, it will be cancelled. You will then be required to send us a Valid Approval prior to a booking date being offered again.

• Do I need to confirm my follow up appointment?

  You will be sent an SMS to confirm your booked follow up appointment at 7 days prior to your appointment. If we do not receive confirmation of your appointment by 2 Business Days prior to booking date, your appointment will be cancelled, and you will be informed of the cancellation via SMS. You will then be requested to contact us via phone to reschedule the appointment.

• How do I reschedule or cancel my appointment?

  Please call us a minimum of 2 business days prior to your appointment to reschedule or cancel an upcoming appointment.

  Please note that appointments will not be rescheduled or cancelled over email correspondence.

• What if I am in too much pain to attend my appointment?

  Please call us on the day of your appointment and we will work with you to provide the best alternative for your situation.

For Patients under Workcover Insurance/ TAC

• How do I request a medical report for Conciliation?

  Your Workcover Insurance company/ TAC will need to provide a formal letter outlining what information they require. If we have not been included in that email, please send it to us. If you can view that we have been included in the request, then we will include you in the response and no further action is needed from you.

  The report is generated once payment is made by your Workcover Insurance Company/ TAC. Allow at least 2 weeks for completion of the medical report from the date of payment.

• How does my legal team request a medical report from Dr Mittal?

  Your Lawyer will need to provide a formal letter outlining what information they require. They will then be provided with an invoice for the medical report.

  The report is generated once payment is made by your Legal team. Allow at least 2 weeks for completion of the medical report from the date of payment.

• How do I obtain a copy of my clinical letters?

  You will need to call us AND send an email requesting specific clinical letters, all letters between certain dates or all letters we have on file. The letters will be sent to the email address that you have filled in the New Patient Registration form. If this needs to be changed, please call us to let us know an email has been sent with the changes to be made.

• How does a new treatment get approved?

  When a new treatment is discussed in your appointment then an approval request will be sent to your Workcover Insurance Company/ TAC within 1 week. Once we have a response, we will call you to book the procedure and/or organise a referral which will be sent to the new recommended practitioner.

  If you have not received a call from us to book a procedure, please call your Workcover Insurance Company/ TAC first to confirm it has been approved.

Referrals discussed during my appointment

• A new referral was discussed in my appointment, what will happen next?

  A new referral will be sent to the practitioner within 1 week. We endeavour to include you in this email or fax but there are some occasions when that is not possible. If we are unable to include you in the original referral, then we will send you a copy at the same time we issue the referral to the new practice.

Procedures – What to expect when you are having a procedure: Self-Funded / Privately Funded

• Booking a procedure

  Once we have received the request for the procedure from Dr Mittal, we will send you an Informed Financial Consent (IFC) outlining the details of the procedure.

  The IFC would need to be signed and returned via email, before a booking for a procedure is made.

• Confirmation of procedure

  You will receive an email with all the details regarding your procedure including date, scheduled time and address, 1 week prior to the procedure.

• Completing Pre-admission information

  In the confirmation email, you will find a link to the hospital’s pre-admission form. You will need to complete this prior to your procedure date. This is only applicable for procedures being held in Hospital, not in a Radiology Clinic.

• How long will I be in hospital?

  This will depend on the procedure but the specifics for your procedure will be in the confirmation email.

• How long will it take to recover?

  This will depend on the procedure but the specifics for your procedure will be in the confirmation email

Procedures – What to expect when you are having a procedure: Workcover Insurance/ TAC

• Getting approval for a procedure – Workcover/ TAC

  If you are under Workcover, we will email your insurance company to request approval. We recommend checking in with your case manager to stay up to date with the progress of the request.

• Booking a procedure

  Once we have received the approval for the procedure, we will call you to schedule the procedure at a location or date that is suitable for you.

  If you have received an approval, please be sure to forward it to our email, just in case, we have not received it. This is to avoid any delays in booking your procedure.

• Confirmation of procedure

  You will receive an email with all the details regarding your procedure including date, scheduled time and address, 1 week prior to the procedure.

• Completing Pre-admission information

  In the confirmation email, you will find a link to the hospital’s pre-admission form. You will need to complete this prior to your procedure date. This is only applicable for procedures being held in Hospital, not in a Radiology Clinic.

• How long will I be in hospital?

  This will depend on the procedure but the specifics for your procedure will be in the confirmation email.

• How long will it take to recover?

  This will depend on the procedure but the specifics for your procedure will be in the confirmation email.