Dental News - Survey of Australian dentists’ fees indicates a small increase

Dental Tribune International

Wed. 5. December 2018

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SYDNEY, Australia: Each year, the Australian Dental Association (ADA) conducts a dental fee survey to gain a better understanding of how private practices across the country are billing for their work. According to this year’s results, pricing has remained relatively stable, with only a small increase. However, as seen in previous surveys, there were significant variations in the different levels of fees that are charged, both within and between different states.

The survey, conducted by ACA Research, summarises the fees charged by ADA members in private practice as at 1 July 2018. According to the ADA, there were 303 more practitioners who took part this year than last year, with a total of 1,740 valid responses received. The total participants were broken down into 1,454 general practitioners (GPs) and 286 specialist dentists.

The fees charged by GPs remained relatively stable from 1 July 2017 to 30 June 2018 across the 121 items that were surveyed. However, there has been a continuous upward trend over the past five years. In line with the Consumer Price Index, the accumulative year-on-year increase in fees over the previous five years is eight per cent. Additionally, the changes in fees charged by GPs varied across all different service categories, with the highest increase in GP fees was noted for general dental services (1.6 per cent). Periodontics saw a decrease of 4.5 per cent; whereas preventive services and oral surgery went down 0.4 per cent and 0.3 per cent, respectively.

As with previous years’ surveys, less than a quarter of GPs reported charging an hourly rate for their services. For the 23 per cent who do, the average rate billed was A$469 an hour, which is a four per cent increase from the previous A$449 an hour that was reported in 2017. On average, GPs in Western Australia charged the lowest fees, while GPs in Australia Capital Territory (ACT) and Tasmania charged the highest. The ADA did however warn that due to the small sample sizes in the ACT and Tasmania, these results should be regarded with caution. On average, GPs in Victoria charged the highest mean hourly rate of A$524, while their counterparts in South Australia charged the lowest mean hourly rate of A$360. Generally, GPs in the state capitals charged a higher fee for the same item of service than GPs in the rest of the state.

Approximately 11 per cent of private practice dentists in Australia are specialists. From the 286 specialists surveyed in this year’s survey, 29 per cent charged an average hourly rate of A$632, which increased from A$539 in the 2017 survey. Specialists in New South Wales charged the highest average hourly rate of A$684, while specialists in South Australia charged the lowest rate of A$400. However, these results should be also be regarded with caution, due to the relatively small number of specialists included in the survey results, according to the ADA.

The 2018 survey’s results, as well as previous years’ results, can be found on the ADA website.

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