Referrers Info
To allow all clinicians to consider your referral please address psychiatry referrals as ‘Dear Doctor’ and psychology/social worker referrals as ‘Dear Therapist’ with a mental health care plan. Our Healthlink EDI is melmenth. Please email all referrals to referrals@melbournementalhealth.com.au (We do not have a fax).
Once a referral is accepted, the patient will be sent an SMS to organise an appointment. If a referral is unable to be allocated, we will notify you in writing and appreciate you notifying your patient to plan other options.
Due to the volume of referrals, it can take up to 3 weeks for it to be processed.
Please note that none of the independent clinicians accept TAC, WorkCover, DVA or bulk billing referrals.
How Do I Make A Referral?
What If I Have Concerns About My Patient?
If your concerns about your patient are immediate please contact 000 or consider the local Crisis Assessment And Treatment Team as we do not provide emergency care.
What Communication Can I Expect About My Patient?
Once the assessment is complete, the clinician will forward an initial assessment summary to you outlining the patient’s history, diagnoses and initial treatment plan usually within 2 weeks.
After this, they will correspond with you when there is a significant change in the patient’s mental health or treatment plan (e.g., changes in risk status).
If you are concerned about privacy, we are happy to communicate with you personally if you provide us with your personal contact details.
Please note ALL psychiatrists provide ongoing care so you do NOT need to organise a 291 referral if you prefer the psychiatrist to provide ongoing care. Please do NOT put 291 on the referral if you wish the patient to have ongoing care.
An item 291 referral is when you and your patient are seeking a one-off mental health assessment with a psychiatrist after which you will receive a detailed assessment summary and 12-month treatment plan in order for you to continue treating the patient independently. This can be a cost-effective way for patients to commence mental health treatment if they do not intend on seeing a psychiatrist on a regular basis as the Medicare rebate for an item 291 assessment is significantly higher.
An item 293 referral occurs when you would like a follow-up review of a patient who previously had an item 291 assessment in the last 12 months. A new report will be provided detailing any changes to treatment options for the patient. Think of this as another ‘one-off’ assessment with an updated report and advice.
Please note in order for the patient to receive the correct Medicare rebate, the referral needs to explicitly request an item 291/293 assessment and the patient must not have had a 291 assessment with any other psychiatrist in the past 12 months.
What Is An Item 291 And 293 Assessment?
Why Was My Referral Not Accepted?
Each independent clinician reviews their referrals and makes their own decisions in regards to accepting the referral or not.
Unfortunately, Melbourne Mental Health only provides supportive services to clinicians and we do not have any input into the clinical decisions made by each clinician.
The two most common reasons a referral was not accepted are the clinician is at capacity (they may have recently accepted a lot of referrals) or the clinician does not feel that have the best skill set to help your patient as it’s important the psychiatrist seeing your patient can confidently provide appropriate care.
On rare occasions, it might because the patient’s risks are too acute and would be better supported by the public area mental health service who can provide case management and more assertive care.
If your referral was unable to be allocated, you will receive a letter regarding this and it will be up to you to contact your patient to plan other options.