Our team will conduct an individual assessment to ensure TMS treatment is provided to you at the most cost effective way possible. A number of additional factors include:

1. Being concessionally entitled - valid healthcare cardholder. 

2. Eligible to be covered under your current health-fund provider.

3. Eligible to receive Medicare funding. 

   Please reach out to our team directly to discuss your eligible treatment payment options.  

   Paying for TMS privately

   An acute course covers 35 sessions along with Psychiatrist assessments and reviews. Rebates are available through medicare.  

   Health Care Cardholders

   Please speak with our Patient care team directly to discuss whether you may be eligible and what costs may be covered under your current provider.  

   Private Insurance/ Workcover/ DVA

   If approved, patients do not receive a rebate from the insurer as it is our accounts team that send the invoices directly to the insurer. All treatments are covered by the insurer and there are no out of pocket expenses for the patient during the treatment.TMSCA do not require a copy of the health fund membership card. 

   TMS for eligible medicare applicants

   As of 1 November 2021, new items for Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS) therapy services have been added to the Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) for eligible patients with diagnosed medication-resistant major depressive disorder. The four new items will make MBS subsidised rTMS therapy available for patients over the age of 18 years who have tried at least two classes of antidepressants and remain unwell. It will cover patients who have not received rTMS therapy previously. Medicare will cover 85% of the treatment costs.More information can be found through the rTMS Medicare MBS listingAdditional cost gap coverage is available for eligible health cardholders.

Deep TMS has an approximate 67% response rate and over a 50% remission rate. TMS has been shown to be effective in adult patients regardless of:

• Age

• Number of prior depression episodes

• Illness duration

• Number of antidepressants trialled (ranges from 0–14)

Patients who initially respond to TMS have a high chance of responding to treatment again if they relapse.

Effectiveness Resources

Often times, doctors send referrals to us via fax or email - however, sometimes patients email the referral to us directly. Once we have the referral, the patient is contacted within 24 hours.

An Initial Assessment is booked with one of our psychiatrists to determine suitability and safety to treatment. If the patient is with a funding body, after the report is finalised from the Initial Assessment, the funding request and paperwork will be sent to their funding body.

If approved, the patient will be contacted to start arranging their appointments at the clinic.

If declined, the patient will be contacted, and they can choose whether they would still like to proceed as a private paying patient or whether they will no longer pursue TMS treatment.

If a patient is not registered with a funding body and proceeds as a private patient, they will be contacted to arrange appointments at the clinic, once the Initial Assessment has been completed and the Psychiatrist has confirmed suitability.

As of 1 November 2021, new items for Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS) therapy services have been added to the Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) for eligible patients with diagnosed medication-resistant major depressive disorder. The four new items will make MBS subsidised rTMS therapy available for patients over the age of 18 years who have tried at least two classes of antidepressants and remain unwell. It will cover patients who have not received rTMS therapy previously. Medicare will cover 85% of the treatment costs. Further details can be found though the link below: 

http://www.mbsonline.gov.au/internet/mbsonline/publishing.nsf/Content/Factsheet-rTMS-211025

Patient Care Team contact

A Coordinator will contact you within 24 hours of receiving your referral. During the call, our Coordinator will ask you some screening questions, help to locate your most convenient clinic location, and book your initial assessment. They will also facilitate funding arrangements (if required) after completion of the initial assessment.

Initial assessment

A Psychiatrist and TMS Clinician will assess your suitability and treatment history and establish a baseline measure which will be used to determine whether the treatment is working.

Session 1 Resting motor threshold

The dose and individual TMS treatment will be determined.

Session 2-21 Acute treatment (Phase 1)

In this phase you will have 5 sessions per week. A TMS Clinician will measure how you are responding to treatment at sessions 1, 12 and 18. A Progress Report is delivered to your treating team at the end of this treatment phase.

Session 22- 31 Acute treatment (Phase 2)

After the first phase of treatment, changes in your mood will most likely be noticeable. If TMS is working for you, treatment will continue. Your response will be assessed again at session 28. A report will be delivered to your treating team at the end of this treatment phase. Treatment may be extended if necessary, depending upon your response.

Ongoing - Maintenance

After you have completed the acute phase of treatment, as part of your relapse prevention plan, you may be prescribed ongoing maintenance treatment which will taper down to 1 session per week or 1 session per fortnight.

You can encourage your friend or relative or client to get a referral from either their GP or their Psychiatrist. We have our referral form on our website. Once this is completed they can send it through to our patient care team via email to admin@reconnecttms.com.au

Theta Burst Stimulation (TBS) is a newer form of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) where pulses are applied in a certain pattern called bursts. Research studies with TBS have shown to produce similar if not greater effects on brain activity compared to standard repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS). The theta bursts pattern consists of three bursts given at 50Hz and  repeated every 200 ms. TBS protocols have a major advantage in comparison to the standard rTMS protocol in that the treatment can be administered within a much short period of time.

Safety and Efficacy of TBS

Clinical studies on TBS indicate that TBS was not found to have higher rates of side effects or poorer safety profiles in comparison to standard rTMS. In both the conventional form of rTMS as well as TBS the common side effects includes headaches and fatigue. There is a very minimal risk of seizures in both forms of Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). TBS when applied to the frontal cortices is associated with antidepressant effects which are of equal if not greater than the convention rTMS high frequency treatments.

Yes, however patients would still need to be booked for an Initial Assessment if they are new to reConnect TMS. This is in order for one of our Psychiatrists to determine the protocol for treatment and frequency of treatment.

TMS is recommended for patients with depression who:

• Have trialed at least two antidepressants, or

• Experience treatment-resistant depression

TMS can be used as an augmentation therapy or as a monotherapy.

• Most patients combine TMS treatment with antidepressant medications.• Some patients who do not want to take antidepressants, or who would like a break from antidepressants, undergo TMS as a monotherapy.

Contraindications and precautions.

• Patients with implants in their head (such as Cochlear implants, nerve stimulators or intracranial clips) may not be eligible for treatment. Note: dental fillings, braces and retainers do not pose a risk to TMS and are not factors for exclusion.

• Patients with a history of seizures within two years at the time of referral maynot be eligible. History of seizures does not automatically exclude patients from treatment but may require a review.

No, TMS therapy usually does not hurt. You may experience some discomfort on your scalp during treatment and a tapping feeling on your forehead.  

Both TMS and dTMS stimulate targeted areas of the brain, but as the name suggests, dTMS reaches areas that are found deeper in the brain.

Deep transcranial magnetic stimulation is a type of TMS that uses a specially designed coil to achieve deeper and broader penetration of electromagnetic stimulation into the brain. In people with obsessive compulsive disorder, stimulation of the medial prefrontal cortex has been found to improve symptoms.

An initial assessment can be completed within 1-2 weeks of receiving the referral. The clinic you wish to attend, will determine the waiting time. We endeavour to get the patient booked ASAP.

Some people choose to relax with their eyes closed, others fall asleep whilst others prefer to watch movies or listen to music on their phones. It is important to try to be in the same position during treatment, so the coil does not get out of position. However, should you fall asleep and move, our Clinicians will be monitoring you to ensure the coil is always in place.

Our Psychiatrists typically attend the initial mapping sessions but do not administer TMS treatment. The treatment is administered by our comprehensively trained TMS Clinicians.