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Psychiatrist income planner

Psychiatrist billings & income calculator

Model a private psychiatrist's income the way the work really runs — build your week of clinical, telehealth and report days, then set your own private fees against the MBS rebate. Long initial assessments take the place of review slots; add the big non-Medicare earners — medico-legal / IME reports, sessional public work, group therapy and ECT — take off your overhead, and see the after-tax take-home. Every figure is an editable, indicative default.

Indicative only, and general information — not personal financial, tax or billing advice. MBS rebates index every July, and psychiatry item rules (referral validity, the 50-attendance-per-year cap, the telehealth rural loading item 294) are specific — confirm current item numbers and fees on MBS Online and Services Australia. Medico-legal, sessional and scheme rates vary widely — set your own. Edit any rate below.

Interactive Australian private psychiatrist income planner: build a Monday-to-Sunday week of clinical, telehealth and report days; set your private initial-assessment and review fees against the MBS rebate (items 296/291/293 and time-banded 300-308, 85% specialist benefit); long initial assessments displace review sessions; add medico-legal/IME reports, court/tribunal work, public sessional work, group therapy and ECT; take off group service-fee or solo overhead; and see the practice split and after-tax take-home.

Your sessions
45 min
60 min
3
46
Build your weekChoose what each day is. Clinical & telehealth days are booked session time; report days are for medico-legal / IME work. In the strip below, ·T = telehealth and Rep = report day.
Your fees & billingPrivate psychiatry: you set a fee above the rebate — you bank the whole fee, the patient claims the rebate back. Bulk-billed sessions earn only the 85% specialist rebate.
$600
$350
15%
Medico-legal & reportsIndependent Medical Examinations, insurer / TPD, court and scheme reports — usually the highest $/hour work a psychiatrist does. Set a report day above, then dial the volume.
Reports per report-day0
A report typically takes a 45-90 min examination plus writing time. Fees range ~$2,200-$2,900 for scheme-capped IMEs (WorkCover/CTP) up to $2,500-$6,000+ for private/litigation reports. Medico-legal is GST-taxable and billed directly (outside your practice service-fee split).
Public / sessional & hospital work (optional)
Sessional VMO ≈ $840-$1,250 per ~4-hour session (~$245-$265/hr); full-time staff-specialist packages ≈ $215k-$438k depending on state, seniority and allowances. This income is employment-style — no practice service fee or overhead is taken off it here.
Group therapy, ECT & other MBS (optional)
Group psychotherapy (item 342) is billed per patient for a ≥1-hour session under your continuous supervision. ECT (item 14224) is billed per treatment (the anaesthetist bills separately). Rates below are editable.
Other schemes — DVA / WorkCover / NDIS / teaching (optional)
DVA pays 135% of the MBS item with no patient gap (bulk-billed to DVA). NDIS assessments/reports ≈ $1,500-$2,500 (complex up to ~$3,880).
Overhead & admin
30%
30%
6
Overhead applies to your clinical (rooms + telehealth) billings only — medico-legal, sessional and salaried income are added net. Admin hours don't earn but pull down your true $/hour worked.
Gross billings / year
$0
Your income / year
$0
$ / clinical hour
$0
Take-home / year
$0
Where your gross billings come from
Take-home / year by your review fee — everything else held constant
Your fee is the biggest lever in private psychiatry: reviews are the bulk of the diary, so a $50 change on each review compounds fast. Bulk-billed sessions instead earn only the 85% rebate.
Item rebates (editable — MBS benefit ≈ 85% of schedule fee, indicative Nov 2025, verify on MBS Online)
Time-banded review attendances (subsequent, items 300-308)
Initial assessment items
Group therapy & ECT
Video-telehealth attendances (items 91827-91831) mirror the in-person 300-308 fees, so this tool bills telehealth sessions at the same rebate. The rural loading (item 294) adds the % above to the rebate on bulk-billed telehealth sessions only.
How private psychiatry billing works — the 60-second version

Referral + time-banded items. A psychiatrist needs a referral (GP 12 months, specialist 3 months). Attendances are billed by length: subsequent reviews 300 (<15), 302 (15-30), 304 (30-45), 306 (45-75), 308 (>75 min); a new-patient assessment is 296, or 291 if you also write a management plan for the GP (much higher rebate), with 293 to review it. A cap of 50 attendances per patient per calendar year applies.

Private fee vs the rebate. Unlike GPs, most private psychiatrists don't bulk-bill — they charge a fee well above the Medicare rebate. You bank the whole fee; the patient claims back the rebate (the specialist benefit is 85% of the schedule fee out of hospital, so the gap is large). Bulk-billing means accepting the 85% rebate as full payment.

Initials displace reviews. A long new assessment (60-90 min) fills the time of two or three reviews. This tool books your initials first, then fills the rest of your session hours with reviews — so more new patients means fewer reviews, not extra time.

Medico-legal is the multiplier. Independent Medical Examinations and reports for insurers, lawyers and courts pay far more per hour than clinical work ($2,500-$6,000+ per report) and are billed directly (GST applies). Many psychiatrists deliberately keep a report day.

Blend & overhead. Most psychiatrists blend a fractional public/sessional appointment with private rooms. Off the private billings comes overhead — a group service fee (~30%) or solo rooms/staff cost — before tax. Telehealth (video items 91827-31) mirrors in-person fees; a rural loading (item 294) tops up bulk-billed telehealth.