• Yes, please fill out our contact form to get started.
• We’ll call you for a chat to see if rTMS and our other services are right for you. For your safety, you’ll also meet with our expert psychiatrist and team who know all about rTMS.
• We will arrange for you to have an MRI and mapping session for rTMS.
• You will still see your usual doctors and we will also communicate with them regarding your treatment.

You can ask your GP to refer you for TMS, or you can see our Mental Health nurse practitioner if you don’t have a GP and/or a psychiatrist.

A nurse practitioner is a “registered nurse who has completed specific advanced nursing education and training in the diagnosis and management of medical conditions and holds endorsement as a nurse practitioner” (source). You can find out more about their qualifications and requirements here and what they can do, particularly in the context of mental health (see PDF). In summary, they can diagnose, order MRIs, prescribe medications and intervene when treatment is not working out (eg treatment-resistant depression).

Our mental health team consists of psychiatrists, GPs, nurse practitioners, nurses and doctors who all hold current Ahpra registration and appropriate qualifications.

• We offer telehealth and in-clinic services, with some services at Medicare or attracting an out-of-pocket fee (if you don’t meet the requirements for Medicare).
• Medicare requirements for repetitive transcranial stimulation are listed here on http://www.mbsonline.gov.au/, under “rTMS – Patient factsheet – 25 October 2021” (PDF).
• Our neuronavigated TMS machine, Nexstim, is the only machine of its kind available in Australia. To attain its accuracy, you will need an MRI of your brain, for which the radiology company will charge a fee (typically $240 – $350). BAC does not receive any part of this fee.
• If you’d like to request a callback to discuss making an appointment or whether you’d qualify for Medicare, or the out-of-pocket costs, please fill in the form below.

Every patient and every situation is unique: you (and your loved ones) will need to make a decision balancing the cost of an outpatient clinic against the alternative of hospital admission and in-patient treatment.

BAC offers an advanced technology (neuronavigational TMS) to provide higher accuracy in targeting, per latest research. This additional technology attracts additional fees. To read more about neuronavigational TMS, see:

• Caulfield, K. A., Fleischmann, H. H., Cox, C. E., Wolf, J. P., George, M. S., & McTeague, L. M. (2022). Neuronavigation maximizes accuracy and precision in TMS positioning: Evidence from 11,230 distance, angle, and electric field modeling measurements. Brain Stimulation, 15(5), 1192-1205. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brs.2022.08.013
• Pieramico, G., Guidotti, R., Nieminen, A.E., D’Andrea, A., Basti, A., Souza, V.H., Nieminen, J.O., Lioumis, P., Ilmoniemi, R.J., Romani, G.L., Pizzella, V., & Marzetti, L. (2023). TMS-Induced Modulation of EEG Functional Connectivity Is Affected by the E-Field Orientation. Brain Sciences, 13(3), 418. https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci13030418
• List of Nexstim whitepapers (Nexstim is the manufacturer of the TMS device we use at BAC).

Brain Aid Clinics sees private or self-funded patients, so there will be an out-of-pocket for our services. In most cases, Treatment Resistant Depression will be covered by Medicare and DVA as long as a patient has failed 2 or more antidepressants due to inadequate responses or intolerable side effects. The relevant Medicare numbers for TMS are for Depression only (14217 – 14220) and have requirements. Other indications for TMS may be covered by DVA and Work Cover. Australia Defence Force personnel may also be covered under BUPA.

Some private health insurers, including Bupa, may provide limited cover for TMS treatment—particularly for maintenance therapy or when Medicare does not apply. Coverage depends on your individual policy and provider. Patients should first contact their health fund directly to confirm whether outpatient TMS is covered under their policy and if there are any associated out-of-pocket costs for the treatment.

Medicare subsidises TMS treatment for adults with treatment-resistant Major Depressive Disorder, if specific clinical criteria are met. Eligible patients may receive up to 20 initial sessions and 15 for maintenance. If you are eligible, we will bulk-bill you, so you will have no out-of-pocket costs for the TMS treatment.

Currently, not available in Australia, SAINT protocol is specific to the Magnus Medical system, and is not applicable to the neuronavigated rTMS systems used at Brain Aid Clinics.

We offer a selection of highly targeted and personalised, MRI-guided neuronavigated rTMS and iTBS treatment, in both “regular” and “accelerated” formats. This allows for precise targeting of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), enhancing treatment accuracy and potentially improving patient outcomes compared to standard rTMS protocols without imaging guidance.

Our accelerated TMS protocol involves two to three sessions everyday for seven days. This intensive approach aligns with the latest research on high-dose neuromodulation and provides a time-efficient alternative for patients seeking rapid improvement.

For outpatient care, patients typically wait around 6 to 8 weeks to see a psychiatrist. This appointment is a screening consultation, usually conducted via telehealth and billed under an MBS item (#291). There is an out-of-pocket fee. At the end of this consultation, the psychiatrist will prescribe rTMS and/or decide if it is clinically safe for you to proceed.

Before and sometimes after this screening appointment, there can be additional time needed to ensure everything is properly in place. This may include obtaining a GP referral, reviewing reports from other specialists, discussing your case within the clinical team, finalising health cover if you are being admitted as an inpatient, and completing any imaging or investigations the psychiatrist requires before treatment can begin.

For inpatient care, timelines are often shorter. On average, we’ve seen waits of around five days, particularly where patients are already known to one of our psychiatrists, or have been recently assessed by another psychiatrist.

It’s also important to be clear about clinical indications. At present, treatment-resistant depression is the approved indication for Medicare-funded rTMS. All other indications are considered experimental, and therefore require a higher level of clinical scrutiny and more detailed consent processes before proceeding.

Our priority is not speed for its own sake, but making sure decisions are made safely and carefully, with the right information, and with appropriate clinical oversight at every step.

In some countries, including Australia, TMS has been approved for other conditions like obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), smoking cessation, and chronic pain.

Ongoing TMS clinical trials are also being conducted for conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). While TMS is often associated with depression treatment, it has shown promise in treating a range of neurological and psychiatric conditions.

At BAC, we see patients with depression, particularly treatment-resistant depression. These are patients who have been treated for depression with medication, but their symptoms haven’t improved.

Yes, TMS is approved by Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) Australia for the treatment of clinical depression. However, it must be performed under the supervision and guidance of a registered medical practitioner, and at an AHPRA compliant clinic.

In some countries excluding Australia, TMS has been approved for various conditions, like obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and chronic pain. Further medical studies and clinical trials are being conducted to evaluate the efficacy of TMS as a treatment for conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

We do not see children (people under the age of 18), although we are able to refer you to services that may be able to assist you.

If you have a child for whom you are considering TMS in a clinically-regulated, but  investigational setting, this trial into TMS for Autism (in Australia) may be suitable for you. Every patient and every situation is unique and the trial coordinators will have their own criteria for eligibility. We do not offer this service at BAC.