AussieClinicians Pay and Finance for Australian Doctors & Nurses
Doctors Nurses
Anaesthetist income planner

Anaesthetist billings & income calculator

Anaesthetists don't bill flat item fees — they bill units. Every case = (basic units for the procedure + time units + modifier units) × your dollar-per-unit. Build a week of theatre lists, set your case mix and your rate, and choose how much you bill no-gap (accept the fund rate) versus with a gap (your full rate) — then add pain-medicine and obstetric work, public sessions, your low overhead, and see the after-tax take-home.

Indicative only, and general information — not personal financial, tax or billing advice. The MBS anaesthesia unit value indexes every July ($23.70/unit from 1 July 2026); fund no-gap/known-gap rates and what anaesthetists charge vary widely — set your own. Confirm items and the unit rules on MBS Online and Services Australia. Edit any rate below.

Interactive Australian anaesthetist income planner using the Relative Value Guide (RVG) unit system: each case = basic units (procedure complexity, items 20100-21997) + time units (1 per 15 minutes for the first 2 hours then 1 per 10 minutes) + modifier units (ASA physical status, age, emergency) times a dollar-per-unit; build a week of theatre lists, pain-clinic and public-sessional days; split billings between no-gap (fund rate) and known-gap/private (your full rate); add obstetric and pain income; take off the low billing-service and indemnity overhead; and see the after-tax take-home.

Your cases
8
50 min
0.5
15 min
46
Build your weekTheatre & public days have an hours dial (list length); pain-clinic days run the pain list below. In the strip, Pain = pain clinic, Pub = public sessional.
Your rate & the gapYou set your dollar-per-unit. On no-gap cases you accept the fund's lower rate (patient pays $0); on gap cases you bank your full rate (the patient/fund pays the difference).
$75
$35
65%
Pain clinic — a typical pain-procedure dayInterventional pain lists bill flat MBS item fees (not RVG units): facet/medial-branch blocks, radiofrequency ablation, epidurals, plus consults.
Procedures / pain-day0
Consults / pain-day0
Pain procedures are billed per item, often per side/level (facet block 39013 $130.60; RF denervation 39110 $320.80/side). Consults use the pain-medicine items (2801/2806) at a private fee above the rebate.
Obstetric & on-call (optional)
Labour epidural is a flat-fee item (18216 $227.30 + $22.75 / 15 min beyond the first hour), often after-hours (items 18226/18227). After-hours emergency anaesthesia adds a 50% loading (item 25025). On-call is usually a retainer + fee-for-service per case.
Public / sessional & salaried (optional)
Public days you tag above are paid at this sessional rate (VMO ≈ $1,100 / 4-hr session ≈ $275/hr; locum ≈ $2,500-$3,500/day). A full-time staff-specialist package is ≈ $300k-$450k. Public income is employment-style — no billing/overhead is taken off it here.
Overhead & adminAnaesthetists have low overhead — no consulting rooms. Mostly a billing-service fee plus medical indemnity.
4.5%
$10k
4
Billing fee and indemnity come off your private billings (theatre + pain + obstetric); public/salaried income is not charged overhead here. Admin/on-call hours don't earn but pull down your true $/hour.
Gross billings / year
$0
Your income / year
$0
$ / theatre hour
$0
Take-home / year
$0
Where your gross billings come from
Take-home / year by your billed $/unit — everything else held constant
Your dollar-per-unit and how much you bill no-gap are the two big levers: the MBS rate is only ~$23.70/unit, funds pay ~$32-$40 no-gap, the AMA guide is ~$106 — most anaesthetists charge $55-$80 on gap cases.
Rates & units (editable — indicative, verify on MBS Online)
Unit values ($ / RVG unit)
Modifier units (reference — set your avg above)
Pain-medicine items (schedule fee)
The pain/epidural fees above are references for setting the fees in the pain and obstetric modules. Modifier units feed your "avg modifier units / case" — e.g. mostly-fit lists ≈ 0.3, sicker lists ≈ 1+.
How anaesthesia billing works — the 60-second version

Units, not item fees. Anaesthesia uses the Relative Value Guide: fee = (basic units for the procedure, from items 20100-21997 + time units + modifier units) × a dollar value per unit. Time = 1 unit per 15 min for the first 2 hours (max 8), then 1 unit per 10 min. Modifiers add units for ASA physical status (III +1, IV +2, V +3), age (<4 or ≥75 +1) and emergency (+2); after-hours emergency adds a 50% loading.

The $/unit is where the money is. Medicare's schedule is only ~$23.70/unit; the AMA guide is ~$106. Each anaesthetist sets their own rate — most land $55-$80/unit — so almost every private case has a gap the health fund and patient cover. The no-gap (~$35) and gap (~$75) rates in this tool are the total banked per unit — nothing separate to add.

No-gap vs gap. Under a no-gap arrangement you accept the fund's rate (~$32-$40/unit) and the patient pays nothing — about two-thirds of insured cases end up here. On gap cases you charge your full rate and the patient wears the difference. (A known-gap scheme caps that gap at ~$500, but full-rate billers usually bill outside any scheme, uncapped — this tool models your full rate.) Billing more no-gap is patient-friendly but lowers your $/unit — the biggest driver of your income.

Other streams. Many anaesthetists add a chronic-pain practice (flat-fee interventional procedures + consults), obstetric/on-call epidural work (often after-hours), and public sessional or staff-specialist work.

Low overhead, high income. With no consulting rooms, overhead is small — a billing service (~4.5% of billings) and indemnity (~$5k-$15k/yr, low-risk vs proceduralists). That's why anaesthetists are among the highest-earning specialists (ATO average ≈ $447k).