The purposes of the Intake Form & Service Agreement are to:

• collect the information required to provide you/your child with the requested treatment,

• collect information required to meet our legal obligations,

• outline the supports and services you have asked us to give you,

• outline the terms of payment and how you will pay us,

• describe what you need to do to get our supports and services,

• describe what we need to do to give you our supports and services,

• inform you what you can do if you are unhappy with our supports and services, and

• inform you of when and how this agreement can end.

This Service Agreement is a legal contract. We both need to do what we say we will do in this document.

The information you provide is considered 'health information' under law. The information you provide is confidential and is stored securely, consistent with our Privacy Policy.

Please note: you can save your progress and complete the rest of the form later using the link at the bottom of the page.

We appreciate that you have already provided us with a name and date of birth. We are requesting this information again as it allows our computer system to automatically match it up to the correct file, so that we can find your information easily in the future.

Who should we contact on your behalf in the event of an emergency?

Parent / Caregiver / Trusted person #1:

Parent / Caregiver / Trusted person #2:

Please provide details of any other services you wish us to report to, liaise or collaborate with, or contact, regarding your services with us.

Please note: if you have been referred by your GP or medical specialist, or are receiving Medicare-rebated services, we are required to contact your GP.

In other situations we will ask for your consent before contacting other services you have listed here.

GP

Paediatrician

ENT

Neurologist

Early childhood education

School

Tutor

Employer

Community access / Day service

Accommodation service

Support worker

Support coordinator

Key worker

Occupational therapist

Psychologist

Physiotherapist

Dietitian

Audiologist

BCBA (ABA)

Behaviour support practitioner

Counsellor

Case worker

Other service

If you need to send us any mail, you can address it to our clinic:

                Unit 4, 6 Montford Cres

                LYNEHAM ACT 2602

If you need to talk to someone about yourbookings, appointments, waitlist, or cancellations, contact our Administration team:

info@northsidespeech.com.au

If you need to talk to someone aboutbilling, invoices, finance, or accounts, contact our Accounts team:

accounts@northsidespeech.com.au

If you need to talk to someone about your goals, assessment, treatment, or other aspects of your clinical service, speak with your speech pathologist. The purpose of your appointment is to review your treatment plan with your speech pathologist, troubleshoot any difficulties that have arisen, and determine next steps in your treatment.

Speech pathologists are legally able to provide clinical advice during your appointment. If you have questions about your goals, assessment, treatment, or other aspects of your clinical service, your speech pathologist will be able to respond and discuss these with you during your appointment.

If you do not currently have an appointment booked, you can contact our Administration team to make a booking:

info@northsidespeech.com.au

If you need to talk to someone about the management of Northside Speech, you can contact Bronwyn:

                Phone: (02) 6182 5966

                Email: bronwyn.wood@northsidespeech.com.au

This service agreement is made between yourself (client, or client's trusted person, signed below), and Northside Speech, Language and Literacy (provider).

This service agreement begins from the day you sign this form (date provided below).

This Agreement is made according to the rules and the goals of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). The participant and the service provider agree that this Agreement is in line with the main ideas of the NDIS. These ideas include things like having more choices, achieving your goals, and taking part in the community.

Northside Speech, Language and Literacy will provide speech pathology services.

Speech pathology is a health profession, and speech pathologists provide evidence-based inventions for communication and swallowing difficulties. The details of the type of treatment that you/your partner/your child requires and the specific goals of that treatment will be discussed with you in the first few appointments. As we get to know your needs better, we will develop a Treatment Plan that documents the type of intervention, the specific goals of that intervention, and the requirements of participating in that type of intervention. The Treatment Plan will be updated when your goals or the treatment changes.

The details and costs of supports are listed in your Support Plan. The costs are in line with the NDIS Price Guide. The Support Plan will be updated every three months (each school term). The current terms of cancellation will also be listed on the Support Plan, and are available on our website.

Northside Speech, Language and Literacy will provide speech pathology services to help you work towards the goals listed in your NDIS plan.

Speech pathology is a health profession, and speech pathologists provide evidence-based inventions for communication and swallowing difficulties. The details of the type of treatment that you/your partner/your child requires and the specific goals of that treatment will be discussed with you in the first few appointments. As we get to know your needs better, we will develop a Treatment Plan that documents the type of intervention, the specific goals of that intervention (within your broader NDIS goals) and the requirements of participating in that type of intervention. The Treatment Plan will be updated when your goals or the treatment changes.

The details and costs of supports are listed in your Support Plan. The costs are in line with the NDIS Price Guide. The Support Plan will be updated every three months (each school term). The current terms of cancellation will also be listed on the Support Plan, and are available on our website.

Speech pathology pratice:

Northside Speech provides a clinical speech pathology service: we diagnose communication and feeding/swallowing difficulties, and implement evidence-based treatments for these difficulties.

Just as the causes of communication and feeding/swallowing difficulties can vary, the types of treatments that work for these difficulties also vary. Just as a GP could not prescribe antibiotics to treat every type of illness, or a physiotherapist could not recommend neck stretches to treat every type of injury, the treatment for the communication or feeding/swallowing difficulty needs to be specific to the type of difficulty and your goals for treatment.

When recommending treatment options, we consider:

• The type of communication or feeding/swallowing difficulty,

• Your goals (what you want to achieve from treatment),

• The types of treatment available to meet those goals, for a person with that type of difficulty.

As these factors are individual to each person's situation and support needs, it is reasonable to expect that your treatment may look different, involving different activities, exercises, and componets, than another person who has also participated in speech pathology treatment.

There is a broad body of speech pathology research, as well as our own clinical experience, that informs what is likely to be effective in a given case. 

You may know of others who receive a particular type or mode of speech pathology treatment, or you may have received a particular type or mode of speech pathology treatment in the past. These factors do not guarantee that the same type of mode or treatment is likely to be effective or appropriate to meet your current goals, and do not guarantee that we will offer to provide that type of treatment.

It is our responsibility to inform you of the different treatment options that are likely to be effective in meeting your goals, for a person with your type of communication or feeding/swallowing difficulty, including if there are treatments options that may be effective that we are not able to provide. It is your responsibility to decide which (if any) of the available treatment options you wish to pursue, and to work with the speech pathologist to participate in this treatment to the best of your ability.

While speech pathologists have expertise in communication and feeding/swallowing difficulties, this does not mean that all supports received by a person with communication and/or feeding/swallowing difficulties should be provided by a speech pathologist. Your speech pathologist is likely to be able to work with you and your other service providers to make adaptations and adjustments to their supports, that meet your communication and/or feeding/swallowing needs.

For example:

Speech pathologists have a legal obligation to provide speech pathology services, and not to provide services and supports that are not clinical speech pathology services. Using Medicare, NDIS, or private health insurance funding to pay for speech pathologists to perform activities that are not speech pathology services (such as the above) is considered fraud by the relevant regulatory bodies, and we are not able to provide such services. If you ask us to provide supports that are not speech pathology services, such as the above, we are legally bound to decline. Where possible, we will redirect you to other supports that are likely to meet your needs.

Depending on you/your partner/your child’s goals and support needs, speech pathology intervention may involve other services that are not face-to-face appointments. These services will be discussed with you, documented in your Treatment Plan, and an estimate of the time and costs involved will be listed on your Support Plan.

As NDIS services are frequently longer-term (often 12 months or more) and complex, the NDIS requires specific reviews and documentation which must be included in our service to you. This includes:

• a written Treatment Plan developed at the beginning our service, and which is reviewed at least every 12 months

• formal reviews of your progress, with a written Progress Report prior your NDIS review each year

Depending on your child’s goals and support needs, speech pathology intervention may involve other services that are not face-to-face appointments. These services will be discussed with you, documented in your Treatment Plan, and an estimate of the time and costs involved will be listed on your Support Plan.

These services are required by the NDIS, and are a condition of our NDIS registration. They are billed in line with the NDIS price guide, and funding is included for them as part of your 'capacity building' allocation.

Participation in the service:

• Share your goals and priorities with the speech pathologist.

• Inform the speech pathologist of any changes to your situation or your goals.

• Attend and participate in all appointments to the best of your ability.

• Follow the recommendations (including home practice programs) of the speech pathologist to the best of your ability.

• Share any difficulties you encounter with your treatment with the speech pathologist.

Bookings and cancellations:

• Give the speech pathologist at least 2 business days' notice if you can’t attend an appointment.

• Cancel an appointment or request a telehealth appointment if you are unwell, or would risk making another person sick.

• If you arrive more than 15 minutes late (after the start time of your appointment), we will not be able to see you that day and you will be billed for not attending. This applies to appointments in the clinic; home, school, and community visits; and to telehealth appointments.

Changes to the Agreement:

• Tell the speech pathologist if you experience any problems with the service.

• Tell the speech pathologist if you want to change or end the Agreement.

• Tell the speech pathologist if you become an NDIS participant, have a new NDIS plan, or stop using the NDIS.

There may also be expectations that are specific to the type of treatment provided. This will be explained to you, and will be recorded in the Treatment Plan.

At Northside Speech, we: 

• prepare for each of our client appointments properly;

• limit the number of clients we see each day to ensure we are providing a quality service to each client;

• only accept and start working with new clients when we can offer ongoing services that are likely to meet that client’s goals.

If you book an appointment with us and don't turn up - or if you contact us to cancel an appointment with less than two working days’ notice - three things happen: 

• We lose the time we have spent preparing for your appointment - time we could have spent helping another client or helping you in another way.

• We may not have enough time to reschedule another client for your appointment time, which reduces the total number of clients we can help that day. This is not fair for people on our waiting list.

• We lose income, which makes it more difficult for us to invest adequately in our workers and resources to provide you and other clients with a quality service. In some cases, this can mean that our staff don't get paid as much for their work as they would have had the appointment happened.

Our services and supports are most effective when we trust and value each other's work. We know that unexpected things happen – e.g., cars break down, people get sick, important travel commitments crop up at short notice. But "no shows" and late cancellations (also known as “failures to attend” or “did not attend” (“FTAs” and “DNAs”) - particularly if they happen more than once - can interfere with our trust in each other and, over time, can affect a client’s overall quality of care. We take pride in our work and don't want this to happen. 

Consistent with the NDIS Pricing Guide, we will accept cancellations up to two business days before an appointment. A business day for us includes Monday to Friday. You must notify us by email or by telephone or by text. 

If you fail to attend, cancel or seek to reschedule an appointment with less than two business days’ notice you must pay us 100% of the appointment fee. We may occasionally make exceptions on compassionate grounds, solely at our discretion. 

If you fail to attend two or more appointments, or fewer than 70% of booked appointments overall, we reserve the right to discharge you and/or any person under your care from our service. 

If we need to cancel an appointment for any reason, we will inform you as early as possible. We do not expect this to happen except in exceptional circumstances (e.g. speech pathologist is ill). Any planned absences (e.g. leave, professional development) have already been factored when this Support Plan was created. You will not be charged, but we will not be liable to compensate you for any other expenses you’ve incurred in connection with the appointment.

We reserve the right to amend and update this policy as needed. Any changes to this policy will be communicated to you via email. The most recent policy is always available on our website: https://northsidespeech.com.au/clinic-policies/

Ethical practice:

• Maintain the highest standard of ethical practice, complying with Speech Pathology Australia’s Code of Ethics (2020) and the National Code of Conduct for health care workers.

• Comply with all relevant laws, including privacy laws.

• This includes:

  • Being honest with you, and telling you if we do not think you need speech pathology services.

  • Being honest about the likely or predicted outcomes of your speech pathology treatment, including if we do not think you would be likely to benefit from treatment.

  • Telling you about what is and isn't required in order for a treatment to work.

  • Declining to provide services that do not fit within the speech pathology scope of pratice, or that we reasonably believe would be unlikely to be effective or meet your goals.

Communication:

• Treat you politely and with respect.

• Explain things clearly, and help you to understand all recommendations.

• Work with you to plan and deliver the therapy service that meets your needs.

• Work with you to troubleshoot any difficulties you encounter in following treatment recommendations.

• Provide you with regular feedback regarding your progress towards your therapy goals.

• Provide you with invoices and statements of supports provided.

Changes to the Agreement:

• Listen to your feedback and fix any problems quickly.

• Check that the Agreement is working well, and work with you to make any changes needed.

There may also be expectations of the provider that are specific to the type of treatment provided. This will be explained to you, and will be recorded in the Treatment Plan.

As part of you/your child's assessment or therapy program, we may take photographs, videos, and/or audio recordings of you/your child. These recordings are valuable for purposes such as:

• Tracking you/your child's progress over time

• Allowing the speech pathologist to review and analyse data

• Providing you with updates of progress, when you cannot attend appointments in person

• Demonstrating therapy strategies, and sharing these with you and/or other members of your/your child's team

All photographs, video, and audio recoridngs are kept in secure systems, in line with our Privacy Policy. No photographs, video, or audio recordings will be made public, or shared for any other purpose without your consent (unless required by law).

At Northside Speech we work from a capacity-building model, supporting you to be involved in the assessment and therapy process to the best of your ability. We understand that progress happens when you are able to put therapy strategies into practice between appointment sessions.

We recognise that photographs, video and/or audio recordings can be fantastic tools in helping you know, understand, and remember the strategies taught in sessions. In general, we welcome you to take photographs, video and/or audio recordings for these purposes.

We ask that you always ask permission from the clinician before taking any photographs, video and/or audio recordings during appointments. Some materials we use, and some therapeutic strategies, are subject to copyright, and are not able to be shared as easily. When this applies, we will work with you to find alternative ways to demonstrate and record strategies for your reference.

Photographs, video and/or audio recordings taken as part of your assessment and/or therapy plan may be shared with others involved in that plan, for the purpose of assisting towards meeting your therapy goals. They may be shared with close family members, educators, and other health professionals for this purpose.

Photographs, video and/or audio recordings taken by you may not be shared with others for other purposes, or be made public (including on 'private' social media accounts) without written permission from the clinician.

At Northside Speech we prioritise the health and safety of our workers and our clients.

It is our policy that our clinicians maintain up-to-date training in first aid and CPR, and that workers have access to appropriate first aid equipment at all times.

As a capacity-building service, we expect parents to stay and be active participants in the session. When appointments take place in the child's home, or in a community location requested by the parent (e.g. at the park), it is expected that the parent will maintain responsibility for the child's basic needs (e.g. toileting, providing food and drink, administering regular medication). This allows the clinician to maintain their role of providing professional advice and treatment, rather than taking on the responsibilities of regular care.

In the event of an emergency, we will assist within the scope of our training and skills. We will assist you to access emergency services (such as calling you an ambulance) where this is needed.

If your child has an established management plan for a preexisting condition (e.g. a Ventolin inhaler, an Epi-Pen, an Epilepsy Management Plan) you will need to provide us with a written copy of this plan so that we are prepared to respond to an emergency situation in line with your wishes.

At Northside Speech we prioritise the health and safety of our workers and our clients.

It is our policy that our clinicians maintain up-to-date training in first aid and CPR, and that workers have access to appropriate first aid equipment at all times.

In the event of an emergency, we will assist within the scope of our training and skills. We will assist you to access emergency services (such as calling you an ambulance) where this is needed.

If you have an established management plan for a preexisting condition (e.g. a Ventolin inhaler, an Epi-Pen, an Epilepsy Management Plan) you will need to provide us with a written copy of this plan so that we are prepared to respond to an emergency situation in line with your wishes.

At Northside Speech we work from a capacity-building model, supporting you to be involved in the assessment and therapy process to the best of your ability. We understand that progress happens when you are able to put therapy strategies into practice between appointment sessions.

We understand that all children exhibit challenging behaviours from time to time, and that the children who require our services (those who require support with communication) often exhibit very complex and challenging behaviour.

We appreciate that caring for a child who presents with challenging behaviours can be demanding and overwhelming. All behaviours communicate something, and we value the role that speech pathology services play in responding to challenging behaviours.

It is our policy that our clinicians have and maintain additional training around managing challenging behaviours and responding to complex behavioural concerns. We prioritise the safety and wellbeing (including emotional wellbeing) of our workers and clients. We work hard to minimise the risk of incidents of challenging behaviours during our appointments by making appropriate modifications to our environment, timing, activities, demands, and clinical procedures. We welcome input from other professionals (such as OTs and psychologists) around an individual's specific support needs and we work with these professionals to implement appropriate accommodations that will allow an individual to participate and benefit from our services.

The role of your clinician is to provide professional advice and to lead your child's team in implementing evidence-based health treatments that aim to improve your child's communication and/or feeding skills.

In order for your clinician to fulfil their professional role, we require that you (the parent) maintain responsibility for your child's basic care needs (e.g. toileting, providing food and drink, administering regular medication), which includes the initial response to behaviour. It is not the clinician's role to discipline your child, nor is it their role to implement a behaviour support plan.

We recognise that in some situations, your child's care needs may be so significant or complex that meeting their care needs would take your full attention and would not allow you to be a participant in the therapy session. In these situations, we recommend that you engage another person for informal (e.g. another parent or family member) or formal support (e.g. a paid support worker).

This allows the clinician to maintain their role of providing professional advice and treatment, rather than taking on the responsibilities of regular care.

Limiting restrictive practices

Restrictive practices are practices or interventions that restrict the rights or freedom of movement of a client. They breach human rights. We are committed to the elimination of these practices.

Some clients we work with present with complex challenging behaviours and have a formal positive behaviour support plan in place (or in development) that includes restrictive practices that are required, for the short term, to protect the safety of the individual and those who work with them.

We recognise that there are some cases where positive behaviour support plans that include the use of restrictive practices are the best scenario that can be achieved at that point in time. We provide professional input and advice to the behaviour support practitioners responsible for developing these positive behaviour support plans, and we recognise that the therapeutic supports (such as skill development) that we provide are often part of the long term strategy to build the client’s capacity and reduce or eliminate the need for longer term use of restrictive practices. We assist clients to develop their understanding and access to verbal information, which can reduce anxiety and misunderstanding, and we support people with disability to develop a more formal, socially appropriate, way to communicate thoughts and feelings, which can help to reduce the expression of these through challenging behaviours. We welcome our role in assisting clients to work towards eliminating the need for restrictive practices.

We recognise that the use of restrictive practices is regulated by the Senior Practitioner and by the NDIS Commission. When our clients have a positive behaviour support plan in place, we consult this plan to ensure that our professional advice works to support (and not to contradict) this aims of this plan. For example, where a plan documents that use of visual supports reduces incidents of challenging behaviour, we will not recommend a trial of eliminating visual supports to promote another form of communication.

We are not registered to implement restrictive practices (including administering pharmaceuticals such as Risperidone, or using a physical hold) even when these are included in a participant’s approved positive behaviour support plan. When working with participants, we work alongside family members and other service providers who retain the duty to implement approved restrictive practices if needed. We seek to use approaches and strategies that will prevent or minimise the risk of restrictive practices needing to be used during our work. When working with clients who have complex support needs, we access clinical supervision, training and other supports that assist us to minimise and to manage challenging behaviour in a way that preserves a person’s human rights and limits the need for restrictive practices.

We do not make recommendations that constitute restrictive practices. When working with a client who may require short-term implementation of restrictive practices, we refer to another service with a behaviour support practitioner who is qualified and registered to conduct an assessment and provide advice in this area.

Northside Speech, Language and Literacy needs to collect information about you/your child for the primary purpose of providing a quality service to you/your child. In order to thoroughly assess, diagnose and provide therapy, we need to collect some personal information from you (about your child). If you do not provide this information, we may be unable to treat you/your child. This information will also be used for: 

1. The administrative purpose of running the practice;

2. Billing either directly or through an insurer or compensation agency;

3. Disclosure of information to your/your child’s doctors, other health professionals or to teachers to facilitate communication and best possible care for you/your child; and

4. In the case of insurance or compensation claim it may be necessary to disclose and/or collect information as required by relevant providers

Northside Speech, Language and Literacy has a Privacy Policy that has been provided to you in writing. Further copies of the Privacy Policy are available on request, and the most recent copy is always available on our website. This policy provides guidelines on the collection, use, disclosure and security of your/your child’s information. The Privacy Policy contains information on how you may request access to, and correction of, your/your child’s personal information and how you may complain about a breach of your/your child’s privacy and how we will deal with such a complaint.

To ensure the process of quality treatment provision, information about your/your child’s assessment results and progress may be given to other relevant service providers, who are involved in your/your child’s management. These may include your/your child’s doctor, teachers, specialists, insurers, solicitors, employers or others, but only where it is considered to be of benefit to your/your child’s progress.

As a registered NDIS provider, we are required to undergo accreditation audits every 3 years. As part of the audit process, our auditors review some of our paperwork and speak with some of our NDIS participants. Under the NDIS rules, involvement in the audit is an opt-out process, and all NDIS participants are automatically enrolled.

We exist to support individuals to achieve the goals that are important to them. Part of this process involves collecting data and measuring how well our services are working.

We would love to be able to share information about the types of practices and services that do and do not work with our colleagues and students.

With your consent, de-identified data (e.g. numbers, graphs, or charts, without names or identifying information) may be used for purposes such as:

• lectures or workshops for students and colleagues;

• conference presentations;

• academic or professional publications.

We are a registered NDIS provider, and can accept all NDIS funding management options.

To be able to claim your speech pathology service from your NDIS plan, you need to have:

• Goals listed in your NDIS plan that are relevant to the service you are seeking from us

• Sufficient funding available under your ‘Improved Daily Living’ (‘CB Daily Activity’) budget to pay for the service

Our fee schedule meets the requirements of NDIS providers, and is available on our website.

There are some restrictions around types of services we can provide under the NDIS, as well as specific requirements of NDIS providers, so it is important that you inform us if you are planning to claim NDIS coverage for our services.

Your NDIS funding is managed by the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA).

• You will need to approve a Support Plan with us every three months

• We will make a ‘service booking’ on your NDIS plan, which reserves the funding that we are expecting to claim from your plan over each three month period. The service booking will be for the amount listed in the Support Plan

• We will claim the fee for your service from the NDIA after your appointment, and they will pay us directly

• We will release any unused funding from our ‘service booking’ at the end of each three month period, or when you discharge from services

• We will provide you with a statement of what we have invoiced and what the NDIA has paid to us, every three months

Please be aware that we create Support Plans and service bookings (reserve funding from your NDIS plan) in three-month increments. We do this as we expect you to benefit from our services, making progress towards your goals, and for the amount and type of support you require from us to change over the course of your NDIS plan.

If you are intending or are likely to use our services for longer than three months, you will need to budget your NDIS plan accordingly, and should ensure that you have sufficient unreserved funding still available to pay for services for the remainder of your NDIS plan. 

If you run out of funding available to pay for speech pathology services, you will need to:

1. Seek a Medicare or private health insurance rebate to help pay for services (see our website for details)

2. Pay us privately (see our website for details)

3. Or we will discharge you or return you to the waitlist.

We are unable to provide services free of charge, which includes ‘holding’ or ‘reserving’ an appointment spot.

Your NDIS funding is managed by a plan manager. 

• You will need to provide us with your plan manager’s details

• We will invoice your plan manager after your appointment, and they will pay us directly, on your behalf. All invoices must be paid within 7 days

• We will provide you with a statement of what we have invoiced and what your plan manager has paid to us, every three months

If your plan manager does not pay us, you will need to pay us yourself for the service that has been provided. If there are repeated unpaid invoices or late payments (3 or more within a 12 month period), we may elect to no longer work with your plan manager. If you wish to continue services in that case, you would need to find an alternative arrangement to pay us.

If you run out of funding available to pay for speech pathology services, you will need to:

1. Seek a Medicare or private health insurance rebate to help pay for services (see our website for details)

2. Pay us privately (see our website for details)

3. Or we will discharge you or return you to the waitlist.

We are unable to provide services free of charge, which includes ‘holding’ or ‘reserving’ an appointment spot.

If your NDIS funding is self-managed:

• You will need to pay the full fee at the time of the appointment

• If your appointment is via telehealth, we will send you an invoice and link to pay. Our payment provider is Medipass. You can find more information about Medipass on their website. Medipass uses SMS links to process payment. You should expect to receive an invoice via email, as well as a link to pay via SMS.

• After you have paid us, you will need to process your claim for reimbursement via the myplace portal

If you run out of funding available to pay for speech pathology services, you will need to:

1. Seek a Medicare or private health insurance rebate to help pay for services (see our website for details)

2. Pay us privately (see our website for details)

3. Or we will discharge you or return you to the waitlist.

We are unable to provide services free of charge, which includes ‘holding’ or ‘reserving’ an appointment spot.

We are able to accept referrals from GPs for Medicare-rebated services. The referral is called a ‘CDM plan’, and referral forms are available here from Medicare. You will need to provide us with a completed CDM referral before we can offer you a Medicare-rebated appointment.

You will need to discuss with your GP whether you/your partner/your child are eligible for a CDM plan. Your GP will be aware of eligibility criteria.

A CDM plan will provide a small rebate (currently $55.10) for up to 5 appointments per calendar year. You will need to pay the remainder of the fee (the gap fee) out of pocket. Our current fee schedule is available on our website.

You will need to pay the full fee at the time of the appointment, and we can process your Medicare rebate to be returned to your account automatically (if you have registered your bank details with Medicare). Our payment processor is Medipass, and details of their service, including how to ensure your bank details are registered with Medicare and how your data is used, can be found on their website.

Medipass uses SMS links to process payment. You should expect to receive an invoice via email, as well as a link to pay via SMS.

There are some restrictions around types of services we can provide under Medicare, as well as specific requirements of Medicare providers, so it is important that you inform us if you are planning to claim a Medicare rebate.

To process a Medicare rebate for a minor, Medicare requires both the client's details and parent's details.

We are able to provide private health insurance-rebated services.

If you have private health insurance, you will need to review your ‘extras’ cover to determine if speech pathology is covered. Coverage varies, depending on your insurance provider and your level of cover.

PHI will typically provide a small rebate (often between $50-$80) for a limited number of appointments per calendar year (often capped by a total $ amount). You will need to pay the remainder of the fee (the gap fee) out of pocket. Our current fee schedule is available on our website.

You will need to pay the full fee at the time of the appointment, and we can process many PHI rebate claims to be returned to your account automatically (if you have registered your bank details with your insurance provider). Our payment processor is Medipass, and details of which providers we can process automatically for you can be found on their website. If your insurance is not listed, you will need to process the claim yourself.

Medipass uses SMS links to process payment. You should expect to receive an invoice via email, as well as a link to pay via SMS.

There are some restrictions around types of services we can provide under private health insurance, as well as specific requirements of private health insurance providers, so it is important that you inform us if you are planning to claim a private health insurance rebate.

We welcome clients paying for services privately (out of pocket).

You will need to pay the full fee at the time of the appointment. Our current fee schedule is available on our website.

Our payment processor is Medipass, and details of their service, including how your data is used and protected, can be found on their website.

Medipass uses SMS links to process payment. You should expect to receive an invoice via email, as well as a link to pay via SMS.

As Medicare, private health insurance, and NDIS each have specific restrictions around the types of services they can fund, as well as requirements of providers of these services, it is important that you inform us if your situation changes, and you wish to pay for our services from any of these funding systems.

We require payment on the day of the appointment.

We have the capacity to store credit card details, and charge your card for you, following your appointment. We process payments through Medipass.

If you are requesting early childhood education, school, or community visits as a component of your service, it is our policy that you provide credit card details so that we are able to invoice and charge you on the day of the appointment.

If you are requesting home visits, you may choose to provide card details, or to pay us at the end of the appointment.

We have a dedicated Accounts team who manage billing and finance. Our Accounts team are available part time (currently Tuesdays and Fridays), so will issue invoices and respond to queries on these days.

If any money owing is more than 7 days overdue, or if you owe us $500 or more, we will suspend all services until this account is settled. This includes NDIS participants whose funding is plan-managed, and whose plan manager does not pay us within 7 days.

All changes to the Service Agreement must be made in writing. Both the participant and provider must agree to any changes. A new Service Agreement must be signed.

If you want to end the Service Agreement, you must tell us. This Agreement can end in a few ways. We expect that it will end when you have met your goals under the Treatment Plan and are ready to be discharged from speech pathology services. However, this Agreement will end:

• 14 days after you tell us that you want this Agreement to end;

• 14 days after we tell you that we want this Agreement to end;

• if you are an NDIS participant, the Agreement will end automatically, the day you cease being an NDIS participant.

The end of this Agreement will not affect our rights to be paid for supports and services we have provided to you before the end of the Agreement.

For participants whose funding is NDIA-managed or plan-managed, we require 14 days to process any outstanding invoices and release any remaining, unused funding (if applicable). We or you may cancel any appointments that you had booked for this period.

In some situations, when an Agreement is ended, a participant requests additional paperwork or meetings, such as a summary or discharge report, or a handover to another healthcare provider. These are clinical activities, that form part of the end of our service to you. If you have requested any of these services from us, we may ask you to pay us for this service in advance, before a report is released or before attending a meeting. Our ability to provide these services within the timeframe requested will depend on clinician availability, and we cannot guarantee the ability to perform additional ad hoc work at short notice.

If you request any such services from us after the end of the Agreement (such as a report for the NDIS or for another healthcare provider), we will respond to your request based on clinician availability, as well as the currency of the health information we have about you, and our assessment of the likely benefit of providing such information. We may ask you to pay for this service in advance, before releasing a report or before attending a meeting. We may decline a request, or require you to engage with additional appointments with us to be able to meet your request, if:

• we do not believe we have sufficiently current health information to provide an accurate account (for example, if you request an NDIS progress report outlining your current communication skills, 9 months after we have last worked with you), or

• if we believe that releasing such a report may not be in your best interest (for example, if you ask us for evidence of eligibility for a service or program, and our best available evidence indicates that you are not likely to be eligible for that service or program). 

If you have a concern or problem with a support or service provided by us the first thing you should do is talk to your speech pathologist. If your concern or problem cannot be resolved by talking with your speech pathologist, you can contact the manager:

                Bronwyn Wood, Northside Speech, Language and Literacy

                Unit 4, 6 Montford Cres, LYNEHAM ACT 2602

                bronwyn.wood@northsidespeech.com.au

Wherever possible our aim is to resolve your concerns or problem when you first contact us.

If you are not satisfied and would like to make a more formal complaint, we will provide you with a Complaint Form. You can also access an electronic version of this form at any time on our website. This is so that we can ensure we understand and have accurately collected all of the details of your complaint or your area of concern.

We will complete the following steps in regards to our complaints process:

• Provide you with an acknowledgement of receipt of your complaint;

• Keep you informed of the progress of the complaint, including any action taken, the reason for any decisions made, and options for review of decisions;

• Keep you involved in the resolution of the complaint;

• Advise you in writing of the decision/outcome and the reason for the decision.

If we are not able to resolve your complaint within 10 working days, we will keep you informed of our progress and how long we expect that it will take to resolve your complaint.

For further information, we can provide you with a copy of our Complaint Management and Resolution System. This information is also available on our website.

Some people feel more comfortable making complaints with the support of an advocate. You can ask a trusted family member or friend to support you in making a complaint, and there are also people and organisations that specialise in advocacy services. In Canberra, you can contact ADACAS for advice and/or support:

                Phone: (02) 6242 5060

                Email: adacas@adacas.org.au

                Online: http://www.adacas.org.au/

If you feel that your complaint has not been resolved to your satisfaction, we invite you to contact the NDIS Commission:

• Phone: 1800 035 544

• Online: https://www.ndiscommission.gov.au/

A person can make a complaint to the Commission about any issue connected with the support or services provided by an NDIS provider. Complaints can be made orally, in writing, or by any other appropriate means and can be made anonymously. A complaint can be withdrawn at any time.

If a person makes a complaint, the Commissioner must decide what to do. The Commission may decide to:

• Take no action, or defer taking action in some cases (for example, if the complaint was not made in good faith or there is not enough information to continue); or

• Help the complaintant and other affected people to work with the NDIS provider to resolve the complaint; or

• Undertake a resolution process.

Some serious breaches and incidents are reportable to specific authorities, including the NDIS Commission. We have and Incident Management and Reportable Incidents System to manage these incidents in a way that meets our legal and ethical requirements. We can provide you with a copy of this System if you ask us. It is also available on our website.

Goods and Services Tax (GST) does not apply to speech pathology services. GST does not apply to the supports we have described in the Support Plan.

If you purchase physical items from us (such as books or AAC devices), GST will apply.

A supply of supports under this Service Agreement is a supply of one or more reasonable and necessary supports specified in the statement of supports included, under subsection 33(2) of the National Disability Insurance Scheme Act 2013 (NDIS Act), in the participant’s NDIS Plan currently in effect under section 37 of the NDIS Act.