Dr Mark McGrath
MBBS, MPhil, FRACGP, CEDS, CEDC
Services offered
Dr McGrath is an experienced GP with a special interest in eating disorders. He has undergone training to offer medical monitoring & coordination of care for eating disorders and is certified with The International Association of Eating Disorders Professionals (iaedp) and the Australia & New Zealand Academy for Eating Disorders (ANZAED). Medical monitoring means helping to keep you medically safe while undergoing therapy for your eating disorder. Coordination of care means establishing, referring &/or facilitating communication between the health professionals in your treating team with the goal of creating a unified approach to aid treatment & recovery. He does not directly provide treatment for your eating disorder, rather care that is aligned with the therapy provided by the professionals in your team, including education, plain-language explanations, support (ie supportive psychotherapy), trouble-shooting & reviewing progress. He does not provide after-hours crisis care.
Dr McGrath also provides treatment for general medical conditions unrelated to eating disorders including men’s health concerns, sports & chronic injuries and ‘weight-neutral’ medical advice for health concerns (with or without eating disorders). He is not able to see patients regarding coughs/ colds/ acute infections. It’s often best to book a week or so ahead.
Dr McGrath works as an assistant surgeon, predominantly in orthopaedics at the Wesley Hospital. He has extensive previous experience in the field of ophthalmology (eyes) including achieving a Master’s degree in medical research in the area.
Initial visit
Your first visit involves a 2hr face-to-face appointment with the doctor developing a detailed understanding or your problems & history (much like you might expect with a psychiatrist), a thorough medical assessment, ordering of tests, introductory education about eating disorders and how this applies specifically to you, and developing an initial plan on what treatment options might look like for you. It’s usually a good idea to bring a support person along.
Due to their time-consuming nature, initial visits are only offered during certain time slots, and there is often a wait. At times Dr McGrath may not have capacity to take on new patients. If he is unable to see you in an appropriate time frame for your circumstances we can offer a list of other potential GP’s.
Initial cost is $360 leaving an approximate out-of-pocket of $250 (for 2hr face to face + prep & post consult work) +/- ECG ($36.55 approximately $20 additional out-of-pocket) (June 2023).
Subsequent visits
Standard review visits are 30mins +/- ECG. $180 – $76.95 Medicare Rebate = $103.05 out-of-pocket, +/- ECG ($36.55 – 16.55 Medicare rebate = $20 out-of-pocket) (Nov 2022)
The frequency of visits may vary between weekly to monthly (usually more frequent to begin with & it depends on medical stability). It’s often best to book a week or so ahead. Availability of popular time slots cannot be guaranteed.
Longer visits & preparation of Medicare plans
Costs for standard GP visits, longer visits, preparation or review of eating disorder, mental health or chronic disease treatment plans are billed proportionately.
Costs & why we can’t bulk bill
It takes time to manage eating disorders and to communicate with health professionals. Unfortunately, the way Medicare is structured means the longer a doctor spends with you, the proportionately lower your Medicare refund. So the longer your visit, the higher your out-of-pocket cost becomes.
The Medicare safety net is a system that can help when you incur a lot of out-of-pocket medical expenses (such as with treatment of an eating disorder). It means you can get more money back from Medicare for certain services (such as doctor visits) once you have spent above a threshold (please enquire directly with Medicare).
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