Late Payment Fee Policy
We have a $30 late payment fee policy. If a patient has not paid within 48 hours after their appointment either because they did not make a bank transfer, do not have funds on their card or they have not provided card details, they receive a reminder that their card had insufficient funds or that we have not been able to contact them for payment, a $30 late payment fee is added if payment is not made.
If payment is still not received after 48 hours, the $30 fee is added to the invoice. Reception will exercise flexibility around this late fee policy but all patients will receive the late fee message and have the fee added, unless a previous alternative arrangement for payment has been made with reception. The reason for the fee is that while most patients pay promptly, Reception spends a great deal of time following up on some patients.
Cancelling Appointments
Sometimes there are good reasons for cancelling appointments. However, unlike brief medical appointments, it is impracticable to fill a psychology appointment that run for 50 minutes.
Where you provide less than two business days notice to cancel or change an appointment, or where you fail to attend an appointment, you will be charged a fee for that appointment time.
Clients will receive a text message four days before their appointment. We will work with clients to reschedule their appointments if required.
The aim of this policy is:
- To reduce disruptions to the psychologists’ diaries and waste of psychologists’ time because of client late cancellations and non-arrivals.
- Make sure that other clients do not miss out on the opportunity to access therapy.
- Reduce income loss as a direct result of client cancellations and non-arrivals.
- To reduce the level of conflict and abuse to receptionists caused by clients disputing fees.
If for some reason you need to cancel or postpone your appointment, please give the receptionist a minimum of 2 business day’s notice, i.e. drop us an email, send us a message here, or give us a ring at 03 9034 8472, two business days before your appointment, otherwise, your account will be charged a fee:
- Late cancellation (less than 48 hours-notice) / No-show / Did not attend appointment – Full Fee*
*Please note that Medicare or health insurance rebates are not applicable to cancellation fees.
Cancellation with less than 48 hours of notice will incur a cancellation fee of 100% of the consultation fee.
Client must cancel or reschedule before 5 pm on a Friday for a Monday appointment, or by 5 pm on the last working day before the public holiday if your appointment is scheduled for the first working day after the public holiday.
You consent for the clinic to deduct the Cancellation Fee from the credit card you have provided when registering with the service.
Cancellation Fees cannot be paid towards future appointments and are not claimable with all insurers except NDIS.
Our cancellation policy is based on the same rationale as many other industries, one example being the airline industry, where you pay for your seat whether you arrive at the airport or not. Given that the time has been set aside for you, if you do not use it, then it is unlikely at short notice it can be used by anyone else. We trust you will agree that this is a fair and reasonable policy and we thank you for your understanding.
A late cancellation, late rescheduled appointment or failure to attend your appointment is a loss to three people:
- The client who is delaying their therapy progress
- Another client who has been sitting on the waiting list to see the psychologist urgently
- The psychologist who spent time preparing for the session, set aside the time in their calendar and lost income.
Please, therefore, ensure that you attend your appointments!