Starting 4 pm Thursday, December 19, 2024, QML Pathology’s Warfarin Care Clinic will pause new registrations over the Christmas and New Year period, resuming at 9 am on Thursday, January 2, 2025.
Current patients discharged from the hospital will still be accepted. However, patients discharged on clexane (LMWH) should remain under hospital care or consult their doctor until LMWH is stopped and INR levels are stabilised.
What is the Warfarin Care Clinic?
Let us take the hassle out of Warfarin dosing for you. We provide exceptional testing services and support referring doctors with the monitoring and management of patients undergoing Warfarin therapy.
We have offered the Warfarin service for over 40 years as part of our commitment to support you and your patients.
Our services include:
- Contacting the patient regarding their dose in a timely manner
- Following up abnormal results with the patient and the doctor
- Reminders should patients be overdue for a blood test
- Educational and informational material for the patient to assist with their warfarin therapy
- Liaising with hospital* (post-discharge), nursing home and pharmacy staff in warfarin management.
- Help manage INR's peri-procedure as requested by the proceduralist.
*When made aware of patient hospital admissions.
The Warfarin Care clinic charter
The Warfarin Care Clinic Charter (see Resources) outlines the roles and responsibilities of all parties involved.
Service fees
To ensure we can continue to deliver this much-needed service and allow us to offer your Warfarin patients comprehensive support and peace of mind, there is a registration fee* to join the service and an annual fee* for enrolled patients.
The annual fee will apply each November. Patients who are registered during the months of July to October may be exempt from the annual fee for November of the same calendar year.
Nursing home residents are exempt from both fees.
Holders of a valid DVA card will not receive an account.Our Pathology will bill the DVA directly for eligible DVA cardholders.
Concessional patients include: Anyone over the age of 65, or under the age of 18yrs.
Anyone who holds a Pension / Health Care / Commonwealth Seniors / DVA Card Please ensure your patient is advised of these fees by having them sign the Informed Financial Consent form and returning this document with the registration request.
*Dependent on Medicare Rebate and/or subject to change without notice.
What the fee covers
- One of our specialist pathologists monitoring the patient’s Warfarin levels
- Access to our Warfarin Care team who are trained to deal with Warfarin dosing
- Access, where appropriate, to Vitamin K at no further cost if required for INR reversal
- A patient contact process for urgent changes to Warfarin doses
- A patient contact process for overdue tests for Warfarin patients
- Access to our Warfarin Support Group via phone and email
Registering your patient
Responsibility for Warfarin dosing remains with the treating LMO until a warfarin registration is accepted by our Pathology (refer to Steps 1-4 on page one of the Registration Document).
You can find the Warfarin Care Clinic patient registration form in the resources section below.
Requests cannot be processed until all information is clarified. Please submit typed requests where possible, missing or illegible information will delay the registration process.
Re-enrol a patient after discharge from hospital
When a patient is admitted into hospital this service is temporarily discontinued and must be reactivated.
To assist in maintaining a safe INR, the dosing Haematologist requires the discharging hospital to supply the Warfarin Care Clinic with an updated health and medication history including recent Warfarin doses and INR results. The medico-legal consequences of blind dosing are an issue that can involve the laboratory and the referring physician.
You can find the Post discharge information update request patient in the resources section below.
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