Dr Mark McGrath
MBBS, MPhil, FRACGP, CEDS
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). Medical monitoring means helping to keep you medically safe while you undergo 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 & outcome. He does not directly provide psychotherapy (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, trouble-shooting & reviewing progress.
Dr McGrath also provides treatment or referral for simple & complex general medical conditions which may be related or unrelated to eating disorders. He provides ‘weight-neutral’ or ‘non-diet’ / HAES (‘Healthy at Every Size’) advice for people with ‘over-weight’ concerns (with or without eating disorders). He does not provide after-hours crisis care and is not able to see patients regarding coughs/ colds. It’s often best to book a week or so ahead.
He also enjoys treating men’s health, sports & chronic injuries, basic skin checks and minor surgery and has extensive experience in the field of ophthalmology (eyes) including achieving a Master’s degree in medical research in the area.
Initial visit for eating disorders
Your first visit involves the doctor developing a detailed understanding of 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. This usually involves a 1.5hr face-to-face appointment and about 3 hours work for the doctor in total (before, during & after). It’s often 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 be able to take on new patients to ensure he is able to continue to safely manage his current patients. In these circumstances, we can offer a list of other potential GP’s.
Cost is $300 – $111.50 Medicare rebate = $188.50 out-of-pocket (40% discount based on 3hrs work) +/- ECG ($35 – 16.30 Medicare rebate = $18.70 out-of-pocket) (Oct 2021).
Subsequent visits for eating disorders
Standard review visits are 30mins +/- ECG. $160 – $75.75 Medicare Rebate = $84.25 out-of-pocket, +/- ECG ($35 – 16.30 Medicare rebate = $18.70 out-of-pocket) (Oct 2021)
The frequency of visits may vary between weekly to months apart depending on medical stability. It’s often best to book a week or so ahead. Availability of popular time slots cannot be guaranteed.
Standard Consults, Longer visits & preparation of Medicare plans
Costs for longer visits, preparation or review of an eating disorder, mental health or chronic disease treatment plans and standard GP visits are billed proportionately.
Costs & why we can’t bulk bill
It takes time to manage eating disorders (and complex medical and mental health conditions) 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 for long visits your out-of-pocket costs are higher.
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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