Standard Consultation 

Standard consultation sessions are 50 minutes in length.

Payment is required at the end of each session by cash or card. A receipt will be issued upon payment that you can use for any eligible claim.

Cancellation fees apply for late cancellations and missed appointments sessions with less than 2 business day notice (see below).

We reserve the right to amend this fee at any time.

Initial Session Deposit 

A deposit may be required when booking an Initial Session. This is then deducted off the consultation fee following the appointment. In line with our Cancellation Policy, this deposit is forfeited if you fail to give at least 2 business day notice to cancel or rearrange an appointment, or if you fail to attend the appointment without giving notice.
 

After Hours Surcharge 

Special appointments are sometimes available outside of office hours and will incur a $20.00 after hours surcharge. The surcharge applies to appointments booked from 5:00pm or later on weekdays. 
 

Rebates

There are two main sources of Rebates – Medicare and Private Health Funds.

Medicare Rebates

To obtain the Medicare rebate you will need a referral from a Psychiatrist, GP or Paediatrician. GPs will write a ‘Mental Health Care Plan’ for psychological services. Currently, you can receive a limited number of sessions per calendar year rebated by Medicare. If you also have private health insurance and require more than the number of sessions granted under Medicare, you can start with the Medicare funded sessions and then continue with private health insurance rebated sessions.

Sessions are charged at the standard consultation rate. Full payment of the standard session fee is required at the time of your appointment by cash or card. A receipt will be issued upon payment that you can use for any eligible claim.

Private Health Funds

Rebates do vary between health funds and may depend on the kind or level of cover you have. We recommend you check with your health fund what rebate they allow, so you can calculate the gap between our fee and your rebate. In general, you only need a standard referral from a medical practitioner to claim rebates (you should check with your fund prior to session). Full payment of the standard session fee is required at the time of your appointment by cash or card. A receipt will be issued upon payment that you can use for any eligible claim.

Insurance Work

If you are seeking psychology services connected with insurance claims (e.g. WorkCover), approval for services must be obtained before you can commence sessions. We advise you to have the approval in place and all necessary documentation prior to making an appointment with us. Please advise reception that your appointment relates to a WorkCover claim when making your initial appointment. Once WorkCover approval is in place and the required documentation has been received by CQ Psych Services, consultation fees will be sent directly to WorkCover for payment. Please refer to our Cancellation Policy regarding payment of fees for Cancellation, Non-Attendance and Late Arrivals as WorkCover will not fund these.

 

How to Pay

Fees are payable in full at the time of your session by EFTPOS (Visa, MasterCard) or cash. A receipt will be issued upon payment that you can use for any eligible claim. Cancellation fees (see below) are not rebated by Medicare or any of the private health funds.

Cancellation Fees

To avoid a cancellation fee ensure you contact the clinic at least TWO FULL business days prior to your appointment. You can contact us by phone on 4972 6929 at any time, even after hours, as you can leave a message on our answering machine. Alternatively, you can email us at admin@cqpsychservices.com.au, reply to your SMS reminder text, send a message through our web site, or even pop into the office. There are multiple options for you to notify us and the responsibility rests on you to ensure contact is made.

A late cancelled 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

Private, MHCP, WorkCover, NDIS (Self Managed) fees will be charged to your supplied credit card.

NDIS (Plan Managed) fees will be sent to your Plan Manager, however, if payment is rejected, you become responsible for these fees and they will be charged to your supplied credit card.

You are responsible for providing adequate notice if needing to reschedule an appointment. Reported unsuccessful attempts to contact us are insufficient, for example, if you phone us and are unable to connect or leave a message, you must make contact via an alternate means. It is your responsibility to contact us via phone, reply SMS, email or through our website.

We understand that on occasion you may feel unwell and we appreciate you not wanting to share with our team. For this reason, we simply transition clients to either phone or video sessions in these instances. This way you avoid a possible late cancellation fee.

Phone and Video sessions should be treated as regular in office sessions. If you are late connecting for the session, are unable to talk at our scheduled time, your battery has died and you are unable to access another confidential place to talk, or any other variable that would have you not be able to attend our session, please know that you will be charged for the session. Please make the necessary arrangements you need to be available and present for your scheduled session.

Non-attendance and Late Cancellation fees are not Medicare rebatable.

Where adequate notice is provided, no fee will be charged.

Where inadequate notice is provided, a fee equal to 100% of the scheduled session fee will be charged where CQ Psych Services is unable to backfill the appointment. An appointment no show, will be charged at 100% of the scheduled session fee.

  • Adequate Notice: Appointment re-scheduling with more than two (2) full business days’ notice.
  • Inadequate Notice: Appointment re-scheduling with less than two (2) full business days’ notice.
  • No Show: Non-attendance for a scheduled service without notice.
  • Business Day: Monday to Friday 9:00am – 5:00pm (excluding Public Holidays).

 For more information see our Cancellation Policy.