By Dr. Mark Bekhit, Radiologist · Last updated September 2026
You have a request form for a pelvic ultrasound, a symptom you would rather not have, and three websites quoting three different prices. Here is the part nobody explains: Medicare has three prices for this one scan, and the words on your request form decide which one you get before any clinic’s price list comes into it.
Short answer: A pelvic ultrasound requested in writing by your doctor carries a Medicare benefit of $98.45 (item 55065). Without that written request the practice bills a different item and the benefit falls to $35.00. Since 1 November 2025 there is a third item: if your doctor suspects endometriosis or another complex gynaecological condition and the practice performs a scan of at least 30 minutes, the benefit is $222.45.
In 2023–24, 74% of patients having a standard pelvic ultrasound at a radiology practice paid nothing. Among those who did pay, the median was $110.
On this page
• What a pelvic ultrasound costs
• Why your request form sets the rebate
• The new endometriosis item, explained
• Where to book, and what to ask
• Internal or through the abdomen: what actually happens
What a pelvic ultrasound costs
A pelvic ultrasound looks at the uterus, ovaries and the space around them. It can be done through the skin of your lower abdomen, internally with a slim probe, or both in the same appointment — and for Medicare, that is all one scan. What changes the price is the item the practice can bill.
Every Medicare item has a Schedule fee set by the government, and the benefit paid back to you is a percentage of it. The figures below are the 85% benefit shown on each item, current at 1 July 2026.
If the practice bulk bills, it accepts the Medicare payment as full payment and you pay nothing; for diagnostic imaging done outside hospital, Medicare pays a bulk-billing practice 95% of the Schedule fee rather than 85%. If the practice charges its own fee instead, the difference between that fee and your benefit is yours.
How often does that happen? For the standard item at radiology practices in 2023–24, 74% of patients had no out-of-pocket cost, and among those who paid, the median was $110. That is the government’s own Medical Costs Finder figure, national and historical, so treat it as the shape of the market rather than a price.
Why your request form sets the rebate
The standard pelvic item is marked R, for requested. A practice can only bill a requested item when a doctor or other eligible health professional has sent a written request and the practice has it before the scan starts. If it does not, the rules let the practice bill the non-requested twin instead — item 55068 — and your benefit drops from $98.45 to $35.00 for exactly the same examination.
The form matters more than the clinic. A practice cannot conjure the higher benefit for you without the paperwork, however sympathetic the receptionist. And the request is for a scan, not a booking at one particular practice: you can take it to the practice of your choice, and it does not expire, so you can shop around. Our guide to referrals for ultrasound, X-ray and CT covers who can write one.
The benefit is the floor. What a practice charges above it is a business decision, and it runs from nothing to more than a hundred dollars for the same item. Our bulk-billing guide explains how practices make that decision.
The new endometriosis item, explained
New since 1 November 2025: Medicare added item 55080 for pelvic ultrasound in people with a suspected or known complex gynaecological condition — the note names endometriosis, adenomyosis, pelvic congestion syndrome, chronic pelvic inflammatory disease and pelvic floor dysfunction. Schedule fee $261.65, benefit $222.45.
It comes with conditions, and each one is worth knowing before you book. The request has to come from a doctor, nurse practitioner or midwife who has identified that you are suspected of having, or are known to have, one of those conditions or a similar complex gynaecological condition; a GP can write it, so you do not need a specialist first. The scan must involve at least 30 minutes of scanning time with detailed imaging and documentation of anything found. And it cannot be billed within 24 hours of the standard pelvic item or several related pelvic and early-pregnancy items — it replaces the standard scan, it does not sit on top of it.
What you are paying for, in plain terms, is time. Around 1 in 9 Australian females develops endometriosis, and the note asks for a thorough evaluation of the pelvic structures. As a radiologist I read that as a search that goes well beyond the uterus and ovaries — the bowel surface, the ligaments behind the uterus, whether the organs move freely over one another. That is not a 15-minute job, and the schedule now pays for the longer one. The note also recommends that the scan be performed by someone with expertise in advanced pelvic ultrasound, which in practice means not every practice offers it.
So if your doctor suspects endometriosis, it helps if the request form says so, because the item turns on what the requesting practitioner has identified. And because the item is new, no out-of-pocket data exists for it yet, so the only way to learn the fee is to ask.
Where to book, and what to ask
These scans are done in hospital radiology departments, private radiology practices and specialist obstetric and gynaecological imaging clinics. To shortlist practices near you, start with our listings of ultrasound clinics in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth or Adelaide. The directory lists clinics by service and location; it does not yet flag gynaecological scanning specifically, so the phone call below does that work.
Ask the practice when you book
✓ “Which item number will you bill for the scan on my request form?”
✓ “Do you bulk bill it, and does a concession card change that?”
✓ “If not, what do I pay on the day and what comes back from Medicare?”
✓ “My form says suspected endometriosis — do you offer the 30-minute complex scan, who performs it, and what is the fee?”
✓ “Can I have a female sonographer, or a chaperone?”
✓ “Full bladder or empty — what do you want me to do beforehand?”
✓ “When will my doctor have the report?”
That last question is worth asking because the time it takes your doctor to receive the written report varies, and the practice knows its own turnaround. Our guide to finding an ultrasound clinic has more on comparing practices.
Internal or through the abdomen: what actually happens
There are two ways to scan a pelvis, and you will often have both. Through the abdomen, gel goes on the skin and the probe moves across your lower belly; a full bladder pushes the bowel aside and gives a clear window (that is the whole reason for the water). Internally, a slim probe — slightly larger than a tampon, with a protective cover and warm gel — is placed in the vagina, sitting close to the uterus and ovaries. That closeness is the point: the internal scan gives much more detailed pictures of the uterus, tubes and ovaries than any view through the abdomen.
You have more say than most people realise. You can ask reception for a female sonographer, and if none is available the appointment may need to move. You can have a chaperone or a family member in the room whoever is scanning. And you can decline the internal scan altogether and have the abdominal one instead. My honest view as the person reading these scans: you would be trading detail for comfort, and for some questions the detail is what your doctor needs — but it is a legitimate choice, and nobody should make you feel otherwise.
The scan is done by an accredited sonographer, and a radiologist or obstetric sonologist checks the images and writes the report, which goes to the doctor who requested it. Our preparation guide covers the practicalities for every kind of ultrasound, and our guide to reading a radiology report explains the document that comes back.
What people paid, state by state
The same government data behind the national figure is published by state, for the standard item at radiology practices in 2023–24. It is the best public picture of how billing differs around the country.
Source: Medical Costs Finder, item 55065, diagnostic radiology, out of hospital, 2023–24, read as at September 2026. No figure is published for the Northern Territory. Outside Tasmania and the ACT, most patients paid nothing. In those two a fee is the norm, and the typical bill was $150 and $155.
Common questions
I am pregnant. Is this the item my scan will be billed under?
No. Scans in pregnancy have their own obstetric items — the early scan before 12 weeks, for example, is item 55700, with a $60.10 benefit. Our pregnancy ultrasound cost guide walks through every stage.
Are there any after effects?
None. There are no known risks and no radiation, you can go straight back to normal activities, and the only thing you might notice is a little discharge from the gel, which stops within a day.
Will the scan tell me whether I have endometriosis?
It is one of the tests, not the only one. To diagnose endometriosis your doctor may recommend an ultrasound, an MRI scan or a laparoscopy, which is keyhole surgery that looks inside the pelvis and can take a tissue sample. What your result means for you is a conversation with the doctor who requested the scan, who has the rest of your history in front of them.
How we know: sources and method
The item numbers, Schedule fees and benefits come from the Medicare Benefits Schedule, read on 12 September 2026; every item quoted carries a Schedule fee updated on 1 July 2026, and the complex item is described in explanatory note IN.1.11. The rule that a requested scan needs the doctor’s written request beforehand comes from Services Australia. What patients paid comes from the Department of Health’s Medical Costs Finder, filtered to diagnostic radiology, out of hospital, 2023–24 — the same filter as our ultrasound cost guide, so the two pages agree. What happens during the scan is drawn from InsideRadiology, the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Radiologists’ patient site, and from healthdirect.
This article is general information, not personal medical advice. Discuss your individual report and next steps with the healthcare professional responsible for your care.
Author: Dr. Mark Bekhit
Dr Mark Bekhit (MBChB, FRANZCR) is a musculoskeletal radiologist practising in Brisbane and an AHPRA-registered specialist in diagnostic radiology (MED0002920947). He spends as much time building software as reading scans: he founded Imaging Finder (Australia) and Radiology Clinics NZ to make imaging easier to find, and builds radiology dictation and pain-tracking tools with one aim — better patient outcomes and a smoother reporting workflow. Outside the reading room he's usually training, bringing the same performance mindset to imaging.
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