Why Publishing Your Prices Wins You Bookings

Ask reception staff at any imaging clinic what patients call about most, and cost is near the top of the list. "How much will it be?" and "will I get anything back from Medicare?" are the questions standing between a referral in a patient's hand and an appointment in your diary.

When the answer is hard to find, patients don't simply pay whatever it costs. Many delay the scan, shop around by phoning multiple clinics, or put the referral in a drawer. Unexpected out-of-pocket costs are a well-documented reason Australians defer or skip recommended care - and imaging, with its wide variation between full fee, Medicare rebate and gap, is exactly where that uncertainty bites hardest.

Every patient who delays because they couldn't find your price is a booking you lost without ever knowing it. Publishing prices doesn't create the comparison - patients are already comparing. It just makes sure you're in the running.

Imaging pricing has three numbers, and patients need all of them:

• The full fee - what the clinic charges for the scan • The Medicare rebate - what an eligible patient gets back • The out-of-pocket gap - what the patient actually ends up paying

Most patients only truly care about the third number, but showing all three builds trust because it demonstrates you're not hiding anything. It also lets patients understand why prices differ between clinics and why some scans (like many MRIs) attract no rebate at all.

Alongside the numbers, state your bulk-billing position clearly - whether you bulk bill everyone, only concession card holders, only certain modalities, or not at all. "We bulk bill some scans" is nearly as unhelpful as saying nothing. Specificity is what turns a price list into a booking decision.

Publishing prices does more than answer a cost question. It changes how patients perceive your clinic before they've spoken to anyone.

A clinic that publishes its fees signals confidence: it's saying the price is the price, there are no surprises at reception, and it's comfortable being compared. A clinic with no visible pricing forces the patient to ring and ask - and many patients find asking about money in a healthcare setting uncomfortable, so they simply don't.

Transparency also protects your front desk. Billing surprises are one of the most common sources of reception conflict and negative reviews. A patient who saw the exact gap payment before booking arrives ready to pay it. A patient who assumed the scan would be bulk billed and discovers a gap at the counter often leaves with a grievance - one they may share publicly.

The cheapest customer-service tool available to an imaging clinic is a price the patient saw before they booked.

The most common objection to publishing prices is fear of becoming a commodity - that patients will scroll to the cheapest clinic and ignore everything else. The concern is understandable, but it misreads how patients actually choose.

Patients weigh price alongside location, availability, reviews, parking, languages spoken and whether the clinic feels professional. Price matters most when everything else looks identical - which is precisely why a complete, well-presented profile matters. A clinic that is $20 dearer but has strong reviews, clear photos and an appointment available this week wins plenty of comparisons.

It's also worth being honest about the alternative: hiding your prices doesn't stop price-sensitive patients existing. It just means they phone your reception (consuming staff time), or assume the worst and never contact you at all. And if your fees are genuinely competitive, hiding them is actively working against you.

Radly is built around exactly this comparison. Your clinic profile displays per-scan pricing in the three-part format patients need: full fee, Medicare rebate, and out-of-pocket cost, scan type by scan type. Bulk-billing and concession-card badges sit alongside, so a pensioner and a privately insured patient can each see at a glance what your clinic means for them.

Patients can filter their search to show only clinics that display pricing upfront - which means clinics with published prices appear in searches that clinics without them are excluded from entirely. They can then compare shortlisted clinics side by side, with pricing shown next to hours, reviews, accessibility and languages.

Two practical implications for practice managers: • Blank pricing fields don't read as neutral; they remove you from a slice of search results • Stale pricing is worse than no pricing - if fees change, update the profile the same week, because a mismatch at reception undoes the trust the listing built

You don't need to publish a price for every item number you bill. Start where the volume is:

• List your ten most commonly booked scans - typically plain X-rays, common ultrasounds, CT of the brain, chest and abdomen, and your most requested MRI regions • For each, confirm the current full fee and typical rebate with your billing team, and calculate the gap • State your bulk-billing rules explicitly, including any concession-card arrangements • Add a plain-language note where pricing genuinely varies (for example, where contrast may be added on clinical grounds) so the published price stays honest • Set a recurring reminder to re-verify published prices whenever your fee schedule changes

Then watch what happens to cost-related phone calls. Most clinics find the reception time saved on price enquiries alone justifies the exercise - before counting a single extra booking.