Policies and procedures

Explore Speech Terms of Service Agreement

This agreement outlines the responsibilities of Explore Speech Speech and our clients.

Therapeutic Supports

Therapeutic services will be provided for the client by a staff member (and in some cases university Speech Pathology students) of Explore Speech Pathology. Therapeutic services can be provided for the client in the clinic, via TeleHealth, or in the community such as the home setting or educational setting.

Payments

Unless an alternate agreement has been discussed with the practitioner, invoices are required to be paid promptly on the day of consultation. This includes community visit and telehealth sessions. Services will be suspended if a client has outstanding invoices, including cancellation fees, until the account is paid in full. Explore Speech reserves the right to use any means of collection available under applicable law to collect outstanding fees. Any additional costs incurred as a result of this debt collection will be added to the client’s invoice.

NDIS has introduced funding periods to new and reassessed plans and will usually be set at three-months. Funding periods don’t change the total amount of funding in a participant’s plan, only when the funding becomes available. Should a participant run out of funding in a given funding period, any outstanding fees will be required to be paid privately.

Explore Speech Group Program Fees - group programs are a total cost per term/block.  The total fee is paid over the term/block via weekly/fortnightly intervals on the day of therapy. Weekly/fortnightly payments are due regardless of attendance. If you cancel at any time throughout the course of the program no discount will be applied, and any remaining sessions must be paid on day of cancellation.
Example: Term Cost = $1500. Weekly payment for a 10 week term = $150 per session paid on the day of therapy.  A client cancels after attending 6 sessions with outstanding $600 to be paid immediately.

Tyro

Explore Speech utilises Tyro to process payments.

  1. Tyro is an online payment system which securely stores your credit card information and is based in Australia.

  2. It integrates with our invoicing software and allows for quick and seamless payments via credit card and rebates from Medicare and HICAPS (private health).

  3. Sensitive, private and confidential health information is processed and stored exclusively in Australia. Further, all Tyro staff are physically located in Australia.

  4. Tyro encrypt data in transit and data at rest using strong, modern ciphers. Further, payment card details and health account information is protected through an advanced tokenisation system, similar to that employed by leading banks and payment processors.

  5. Tyro only store information necessary for providing our services and only for the period required to meet operational or regulatory responsibilities.

  6. Tyro undergo regular independent auditing and testing, and employ subject matter experts across our security framework to identify potential issues and to enhance control effectiveness. 

  7. For more information about the security of Tyro you can visit their website: https://www.tyrohealth.com/security/

Funding

We accept National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) funded clients who are NDIS 3rd Party Managed or Self-Managed. We accept private paying clients, as well as clients with General Practitioner Chronic Disease Management Plans (CDMP) or Private Health Insurance with relevant extras. CDMP’s and Private Health Insurance consultations require a gap payment by the client. A CDMP should be obtained from a General Practitioner prior to the child’s first session at Explore Speech. If funding for any product or service is declined by a funding source, the client/client representative is responsible for paying for services provided by Explore Speech.

​Cancellations

When appointments are made with Explore Speech we allocate the whole session to you/your child and plan an individual program for you/your child. Please provide us with adequate notice if you/your child is unable to attend the scheduled appointment. To cancel an appointment please reply 'No' to the courtesy SMS reminder. Alternatively, an email or telephone call is accepted in the required timeframe.

Explore Speech requires notice of cancellation two days prior to the appointment to avoid a cancellation fee. To avoid a cancellation fee, reply 'no' via text or email two days prior to the scheduled session. Notice of cancellation the day before OR on the day of an appointment will incur a cancellation fee of 100% of the agreed cost. A cancellation fee will be applied to all sessions cancelled on the day of service, or no shows, at 100% of the agreed cost.

e.g. for an appointment on a Tuesday, there will be no cancellation charged if the session is cancelled on the Sunday.

If your child’s session can be rescheduled and attended by close of business Friday on the week of the appointment, the cancellation fee will be waived *subject to staff availability. If the rescheduled appointment is cancelled the original appointment's cancellation fee will apply regardless of the notice given.

Late cancellation due to illness. If your child is unwell on the day of the appointment and cannot attend face-to-face, you may change to a telehealth session to avoid a late cancellation fee. The therapist can work with your child or provide parent information and training. Please do not attend the clinic with any cold/flu symptoms regardless of how mild they may seem. We reserve the right to deny therapy services on the day if any person in attendance presents to the clinic displaying cold, flu or COVID-19 symptoms. A full session fee will apply.

Travel

A staff member of Explore Speech will charge up to 30 minutes travel each way at 50% of the hourly rate against the appointment for community services. Kilometres will also be charged. This will be included to the invoice total.

Attendance

In order to provide continuity of care for our clients, we require 80% attendance of the scheduled sessions within a school semester.  If your child has been unable to attend sessions regularly, appointments will be reviewed and you may be reallocated to the waitlist.

Reports

It is a requirement of Speech Pathology Australia and Explore Speech that a report is written whenever an assessment is conducted. Fees for report writing will be charged on the first day of the assessment session.

TeleHealth

TeleHealth appointments are available upon request. Explore Speech uses a secure internet service for TeleHealth sessions and standard privacy policies are applied. No video or audio recordings or still images of session/s are to be taken by the parent/guardian or practitioner without explicit prior consent. Any collection of images are only to be used for the therapeutic outcomes for the client. The practitioner may share therapeutic documents or website links with the client during TeleHealth session/s. Progress notes and still images of text used on the Telehealth “whiteboard” during the session will be documented and filed online in Cliniko.

Goods and Services Tax (GST)

Goods and Services Tax (GST) does not apply to Explore Speech’s therapeutic services but does apply to other services offered. See our fee schedule for more information.

Complaints and Feedback

Any concerns that you may have can be directed to Lauren Planner (Speech Pathologist) lauren@explorespeech.com.au

Christmas/Easter Themed Activities

In our therapy sessions we often use themed activities which relate to Christmas, Easter, Halloween, NAIDOC etc. Please let your therapist know if you do not want your child to participate in these themed activities.

Explore Speech has zero tolerance of aggressive and/or threatening behaviour towards team members.