The information on the Medical Costs Finder is a guide only and should not be used as a quote or medical diagnosis.

MCF Portal terms of use

For medical specialists and their authorised persons

Follow these terms of use when using the MCF Portal

On this page

What is the MCF Portal

The Medical Costs Finder (MCF) Portal is for medical specialists and their staff (authorised persons). Specialists and their staff can enter information about medical services, where they are provided, roughly how much they cost and any gap arrangements with private health insurers. The information is then published on the MCF website.

Access to the MCF Portal is restricted to approved users (users):

  • who have registered to use the MCF Portal
  • who agree to the MCF Portal terms of use

If you are a medical specialist and would like to publish your fees on the Medical Costs Finder website, you will need to signup or login to the MCF Portal.

Medical Costs Finder Portal

Scope

These terms of use apply to the MCF Portal.

All medical specialists must agree to these terms of use as a condition of using the MCF Portal.

Definitions

In these terms of use:
a. ‘Department’ means the Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care.

b. ‘MCF Portal’ means the electronic platform operated by the Department for the MCF website (medicalcostsfinder@health.gov.au) on which a Medical Specialist (or an Authorised Person) can:

  • provide indicative fees on in-hospital services;
  • provide indicative fees on out-of-hospital services;
  • provide any gap arrangements with private health insurers; and
  • view, manage and remove the Medical Specialist’s profile.

c. ‘Intellectual Property Rights’ include:

  • all copyright (including rights in relation to phonograms and broadcasts);
  • all rights in relation to inventions, plant varieties, trademarks (including service marks), designs and circuit layouts; and
  • all other rights resulting from intellectual activity in industrial, scientific, literary or artistic fields.

but does not include:

  • moral rights under Part IX of the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth); or
  • rights in relation to confidential information.

d. ‘Material’ means anything:

  • lodged by a User into the MCF Portal; or
  • communicated by the Department via the MCF Portal,

and includes any such thing in which Intellectual Property Rights arise.

e. ‘Medical Specialist’ means a User who must have a current Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) registration number and has registered their details in the MCF Portal and agreed to these Terms of Use and any other MCF Portal Terms and Conditions, who has the ability to:

  • enter and make changes to their own profile and fee information, including such things as updating indicative fees, gap arrangements and locations;
  • invite Authorised Person(s) to act on behalf of themselves (i.e. granting access for Authorised Person(s) to act on behalf of themselves);
  • approve or reject changes made by an Authorised Person associated with them, as a Medical Specialist;
  • grant and update permissions of Authorised Person(s) associated with them, as a Medical Specialist; and
  • remove both themselves as a Medical Specialist and/or Authorised Person(s) associated with them, as a Medical Specialist.

f. ‘Authorised Person’ means a User who is registered to use a Medical Specialist’s account in the MCF Portal. An Authorised Person can be an Authorised Representative or Support Staff.

g. ‘Authorised Representative’ means an Authorised Person who has the ability to:

  • act on behalf of the Medical Specialist;
  • invite Support Staff, who can enter and make changes to the Medical Specialist’s profile and fee information (i.e. granting access for another Authorised Person to act on behalf of the Medical Specialist);
  • enter and make changes to the Medical Specialist’s profile and fee information (without requiring approval from the Medical Specialist);
  • remove Support Staff associated with the relevant Medical Specialist.

h. ‘Support Staff’ means an Authorised Person who has the ability to:

  • enter and make changes to the Medical Specialist’s profile and fee information, with these changes requiring approval from the Medical Specialist or an Authorised Representative.

i. ‘Personal information’ has the meaning given in section 6 of the Privacy Act 1988.

j. ‘User’ means any individual who is registered to use a Medical Specialist’s account in the MCF Portal and includes a Medical Specialist and an Authorised Person. The term ‘User’ does not include any person acting for or on behalf of the Department or any other Australian Government entity, including employees, professional advisers, or contractors.

k. ‘You’ and ‘Your’ refers to a User.

The Commonwealth of Australia as represented by the Department may at its discretion update these Terms of Use. The Department will provide notice of any update to these Terms of Use where it considers it feasible to do so.

By continuing to use the MCF Portal, You accept the Terms of Use as they apply from time to time and acknowledge that You have an ongoing need to access the MCF Portal. Your acceptance of these Terms of Use is not affected by any statement to the contrary, or any restriction, exclusion or additional terms or conditions of use set out in any information submitted by You, and You agree that such statements, restrictions, exclusions, and additional terms or conditions have no legal effect.

Failure to comply with these Terms of Use may, at any time, result in Your Profile being suspended or terminated.

Your obligations

Authorised use of myID/PRODA

You must:
a. only access the MCF Portal using a valid Digital ID as described at www.digitalidsystem.gov.au(opens in new tab) and

b. comply with any terms and conditions applicable to Your use of the Digital ID.

Confirmation of identity

You confirm that Your individual identification details submitted on the MCF Portal registration page are true and correct and that You are not misrepresenting Your identity or registering on behalf of any other individual.

Lawful and appropriate use of MCF Portal

You must:
a. only use the MCF Portal for Your own lawful purposes, in accordance with these Terms of Use or any other conditions notified by the department on the MCF Portal, and in a manner that does not infringe the Intellectual Property Rights of, or restrict or inhibit the use of the MCF Portal by, any third party;

b. not attempt to undermine the security or integrity of the MCF Portal;

c. only use information in the MCF Portal that relates to You for Your purposes and not for any other purposes;

d. not attempt to gain access to any Materials other than those submitted by You or to which You have been given express permission by the Department;

e. immediately notify the Department about any unauthorised use of Your Profile or any other breach of security and take all other actions that the Department reasonably deems necessary to maintain or enhance the security of the MCF Portal;

f. maintain and ensure Your Profile registration and authentication details are true, accurate, and current;

g. not use, or misuse the MCF Portal in any way which may disrupt or impair the functionality of the MCF Portal or other systems used for the MCF Portal; and

h. not transmit, or input via the MCF Portal, any:

  • harmful code or malware;
  • unlawful, defamatory, obscene, offensive or scandalous Material, or any Material that constitutes or encourages conduct that would contravene any law or which may harass or cause distress or inconvenience to any person; or
  • Material in violation of any Intellectual Property Rights or any laws or that You do not have the right to use or transmit or input into the MCF Portal.

Any Material (including attachments) submitted to the MCF Portal that does not comply with these conditions may either be destroyed by the Department in its absolute discretion or may not be considered or assessed for the purposes of the Department’s administration of the MCF website and MCF Portal. It is Your responsibility to ensure that any files uploaded by You comply with these conditions.

You acknowledge that Your access to, and use of, the MCF Portal may be terminated and/or suspended at the full discretion of the Department, should You (as a Medical Specialist) retire or be suspended from medical practice.

You acknowledge that Your access to, and use of, the MCF Portal is subject to all applicable Commonwealth legislation (including the Crimes Act 1914, the Criminal Code Act 1995, the Privacy Act 1988 and the Health Insurance Act 1973), and that penalties may apply for misuse of information obtained from the MCF Portal or disclosure of information contrary to law.

Your use of the MCF Portal will be logged for the purpose of security and usage monitoring.

Intellectual property

You are granted the right to access and use the MCF Portal by the Department for the purposes of lodging Medical Specialist information on the MCF Portal and as otherwise expressly permitted in these Terms of Use.

Materials on the MCF Portal may be protected by Intellectual Property Rights. You must not use any Material on the MCF Portal for a purpose for which You do not have express permission from the Intellectual Property Rights owner. If You have any doubt as to Your right to use the Material, please contact its owner. The Department is not liable if You breach any Intellectual Property Rights.

You grant (or procure) a royalty-free, non-exclusive, non-transferrable licence (including a right of sub-licence) for the Department to use, publish, reproduce and disseminate the information and Material submitted to the MCF Portal for the purpose of:

  • the operation of the MCF website
  • the review, update and refinement of the operation of the MCF website
  • research, policy and implementation in the areas of cost transparency and informed financial consent, with the aim of enabling and informing improvements by government and relevant industry.

You acknowledge and agree that the licence granted above does not limit or exclude any rights that the Department is entitled or required to exercise at law in relation to the Material.

Indemnification, liability and termination

You remain solely responsible for complying with all applicable laws in connection to Your use of the MCF Portal. It is Your responsibility to check that storage of, transfer and access to the Materials You transmit or input via the MCF Portal will comply with all laws applicable to You.

If You:
a. breach any of these Terms of Use or other conditions posted by the Department on the MCF Portal; or

b. engage in misleading, deceptive, fraudulent, immoral or illegal conduct, the Department may, without limiting its rights, terminate Your access to the MCF Portal or suspend Your use of the MCF Portal for any period of time. The Department reserves the right to pursue legal action.

Collection of Your personal information and privacy obligations

The Department may collect, use and disclose personal information about You or third parties that You input or transmit via the MCF Portal for the purpose of administering the MCF Portal and publishing information about medical specialists on the MCF website.

You can get more information about the way in which the Department will collect, use, and disclose Your personal information, including the Department’s privacy policy. If You disclose personal information of other User’s to the Department via the MCF Portal, You warrant to the Department that:

a. the Users to whom the personal information relates have consented to the Department collecting, using and disclosing their personal information for the purpose of administering the MCF Portal or for publication on the MCF Website

b. You have drawn to those people’s attention the Department’s privacy notice and privacy policy.

Disclaimers

You agree that Your use of the MCF Portal is entirely at Your own risk, and You have made Your own assessment on the risk of use of the MCF Portal and any Materials on the MCF Portal.

You accept and agree that You are authorised and responsible for any information submitted to the MCF Portal using Your Profile. The Department is not liable or legally responsible for any information You submit to the MCF Portal using Your Profile.

The Department may at any time change the content, including removal of any Materials held in the MCF Portal at its discretion and without notice.

The Department gives no warranty in connection with the MCF Portal and its Materials and cannot guarantee that the use of the MCF Portal and its Materials will not breach Intellectual Property Rights, will be uninterrupted or error free, that defects will be corrected, or that the MCF Portal is free of harmful code.

To the maximum extent permitted by law, the Department excludes all liability and responsibility to You for any loss (including loss of information, data, profits and savings) or damage resulting, directly or indirectly, in connection from Your (or any other person’s) use of or reliance on, the MCF Portal or its Materials.

Where connection to a system or website outside the Department’s control compromises the objectives of the MCF Portal, the Department may sever links to that website or system.

The MCF Portal is hosted in a cloud environment and has been designed to meet relevant requirements under the Australian Government Protective Security Policy Framework and the Information Security Manual. However, You acknowledge that the Department does not give any representation or warranty that the MCF Portal or any underlying environment or platform is secure or meets a particular security standard.

You accept that any information provided to You about the progress of any registration, through the MCF Portal, may be subject to change. Any such information provided to You remains confidential and must not be disclosed by You.

General

These Terms of Use are governed by the laws of the Australian Capital Territory, Australia, and You agree to submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of the Australian Capital Territory.

If any of these Terms of Use are held to be invalid, unenforceable or illegal for any reason, the remaining Terms of Use will continue in full force.

If either party waives any breach of these Terms of Use, this will not constitute a waiver of any other breach. No waiver will be effective unless made in writing.

Date last updated: November 2022