From time to time, as part of good business practice, these policies are renewed and updated. Current clients will be notified when policies are updated via email.
Your child's information and privacy is extremely important at Connecting Dots 4 Kids. Your child’s personal information, including information about others who are key stakeholders in their life, is gathered as part of the assessment and treatment process and is kept securely. Connecting Dots 4 Kids utilizes an electronic database (Cliniko) which meets HIPAA requirements for storage of secure health information.
At Connecting Dots 4 Kids, we may work closely with other agencies to coordinate the best support for you, your child and others. This means your informed consent to share information about you and your child will be sought and respected in all situations unless:
1) disclosure is authorized or required by law, or
2) (a) it is unreasonable or impractical to seek consent; or consent has been refused; and
(b) the disclosure is reasonably necessary to prevent or lessen a serious threat to life, health or safety of a person or group of people.
Your child’s personal information is retained in order to document what happens during sessions, and enables your therapist to provide a relevant and informed service to you and your child.
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Initial assessment appointments will be negotiated at the time of initial contact and follow-up appointments booked directly with your therapist at consultation.
If your child is accessing regular therapy sessions, you will be contacted near the end of term to discuss and negotiate next term's therapy plan, including gathering possible times and days for future therapy sessions and also to book in any parent consults. Please be aware, where possible, we aim to meet all existing client requests however due to the nature and demand for our services, this is not always possible and changes to days and times may be required to continue care in the future. Once a suitable schedule is determined for both parties, appointments will be booked in our calendar and you will be sent a copy of planned appointments for your records (a Schedule of Supports).
Please notify Connecting Dots 4 Kids as soon as possible if your child is unwell or you are unable to attend an appointment as planned to avoid cancellation fees. Appointments need to be cancelled by 9am 2 full business days prior to not receive a 'Short Notice Cancellation Fee'. No shows and failure to attend an appointment as planned will also incur travel costs.
Failure to attend in 2 successive sessions without communication with your therapist as to why your child did not attend may result in the cancellation of your Schedule of Supports. Where your therapist attends a centre for planned appointments, it is the parent's responsibility to cancel appointments if a child is not present.
Short-notice cancellation fee is 100% of the planned session fee (typically 1 hour). Where an appointment is cancelled after the cutoff, clinician time can be converted to indirect client contact for reporting writing, letters, phone call reviews, etc. where appropriate.
Please do not bring your child to therapy/allow our therapist to visit your child at a school/centre if they are unwell or if you/an attending sibling/a family member present is unwell. When cancellations occur at short notice, families are welcome to change an appointment to a telehealth appointment or a parent-only phone call if this is a suitable alternative. Cancellations received after 10am on the day prior will be billed at 100% of the appointment rate.
You are able to cease services at any time, please let your therapist know so they can cancel any future bookings in your Schedule of Supports. Please let your therapist know if you require a discharge report too. Notification is required to the referral source if you are accessing Medicare supports.
At Connecting Dots 4 Kids payment is required on the day of service. Our preferred payment is direct account transfer. If you wish to pay via a different method, please contact Connecting Dots for Kids admin prior to the day of your appointment to discuss other options.
Failure to receive payment or negotiate alternative payment plans after 5 business days will result in the cancellation of existing appointments and services. Connecting Dots 4 Kids reserves the right to share your contact details and details of outstanding funds to engage with third-party debt collection agencies if required. If you are having difficulty paying for services, please discuss this with your therapist at the earliest convenience.
From time to time, client's use a third party to pay for services, i.e. NDIS plan management agencies. Please note it is the responsibility of the client's parent/carer/guardian to plan and ensure sufficient funds are available in their account to pay for service provision. This includes paying for Schedules of Support as well as any additional reviews, report writing (i.e. end of NDIS plan reports as required for reviews) and non-face-to-face costs (i.e. phone calls and emails to other service providers, development of resources, etc). Where sufficient funds are not available through an agreed third party (i.e. insufficient funds in an NDIS plan) the responsibility for payment reverts to the client and/or their representative (i.e. parent/carer/guardian).
