If you have:

1. A Mental Health Care Plan and a referral letter from your GP from this calendar year or;
2. Your private insurer covers the cost of psychological therapy;
3. Psychological services indicated in your NDIS funding plan;

Please forward all relevant documentation before your first session to admin@chatcorner.com.au

* The applicable Medicare psychology rebate and current NDIS pricing arrangements may apply to eligible individual telehealth psychology services.

* Please be ready 10 minutes before your appointment time.

* Therapy sessions are 50 minutes.

* There are clients scheduled before and after your session. If you are late, this reduces the total available time you have for your session.

* A session may be extended if the psychologist has availability immediately afterwards. Additional time will be charged on a pro-rata basis.

* Debit and Credit Card are acceptable forms of payment.

Deposit

To secure your appointment, Chat Corner Psychologists requires a deposit equivalent to the Medicare rebate amount for a single session.

Of this amount, $60 is retained during your treatment and refunded once your therapy has concluded or you decide not to continue.

To access our platform and maintain our services, an administrative fee of $44.48 is deducted from the deposit and is non-refundable.

Note: The Deposit does not apply to clients from the Department of Veterans' Affairs.

Cancellation Policy for Medicare and Full Fee clients

We gently remind our clients that we have a cancellation policy where if less than two (2) clear business days notice is provided to cancel or change an appointment, or where you do not attend an appointment, you will be charged a full fee for the appointment that was scheduled. The refundable portion of your Deposit of $60 Australian dollars will be applied to the therapy session you have missed.

If a late cancellation or non-attendance fee is charged, the refundable $60 portion of your existing deposit will be applied toward that fee. Before another appointment can be booked, any remaining balance for the missed appointment must be paid and a new deposit must be provided for the next appointment.

Note: The Deposit does not apply to clients from the Department of Veterans' Affairs.

Cancellation Policy for NDIS clients

The NDIS Price Guide provides that NDIS Participants who notify us of a cancellation less than two (2) clear business days before a scheduled therapy appointment will be charged a cancellation fee of up to 100% of the agreed price.

The number of short notice cancellations (or no-shows) that a provider can claim in respect of a participant is not limited.

If you have a Medicare card or private health insurance, you may be eligible for a rebate for eligible psychology services. Please check your eligibility and rebate entitlements before your session.

For those accessing the Medicare Australia psychology rebate:

1. Please visit your GP and obtain a valid Referral Letter and Mental Health Care Plan.
2. Eligible clients may access Medicare benefits for up to 10 individual mental health treatment services per calendar year under the Better Access initiative. The initial course of treatment may include up to 6 individual services, with any remaining eligible services accessed through a subsequent course of treatment and referral.

Please forward this information to your GP immediately if you are requesting an early appointment.

Kindly ask your GP to send a Mental Health Care Plan and Referral Letter from this calendar year to admin@chatcorner.com.au, addressed to “Chat Corner Psychologists”.

Medicare Australia requires the GP referral letter to be addressed to ‘Chat Corner Psychologists’ and the number of sessions approved to be specified.

The referral should specify the number of treatment services being referred for. The initial course of treatment may include up to 6 individual services. A subsequent course may include the remaining eligible services, up to the annual limit of 10 individual services.

Forward this information to your GP if you’re obtaining a:

1. A new Mental Health Care Plan
2. A new referral for this year
3. A referral letter addressed to "Chat Corner Psychologists"

Contact us via phone or email if you have any questions.

Tel: 02 8880 5922 – NSW, QLD, VIC, TAS
Tel: 08 7092 5988 – WA, SA, NT
admin@chatcorner.com.au
www.chatcorner.com.au

4. If you incur a 'Gap fee', full payment for the session is required. The rebate will then be processed back to your nominated bank account with Medicare Australia.

Better Access telehealth psychology services are available to eligible patients where telehealth is safe and clinically appropriate. Video is the preferred alternative to face-to-face services, although some services may be provided by telephone where video is not available.

Individuals, families and emergency response personnel who cannot easily access mental health professionals in person, will be able to obtain counselling and support through video telehealth services, with Medicare rebates.

You will be able to make an appointment without a GP referral.

If you have a private health insurance provider, please check if you are eligible for a rebate or if obtaining an insurer's rebate requires a referral from the GP or a Mental Health Care Plan. It is important to consult your private health insurance provider in advance if you require further information regarding whether you're eligible for psychological treatments and the amounts that you can claim.

NDIS participants must meet key criteria:

1. Being under the age of 65.
2. Have a permanent disability - means your disability is likely to be lifelong.
3. Having a significant disability - substantial impact on your ability to complete everyday activities.

Information from your doctors, healthcare professionals, support providers and relevant networks may assist us in determining the appropriate form of therapeutic support you require.

NDIS participants must complete a Service Agreement. Please refer to this article to find out more about "Finding the right NDIS Psychologist".

We welcome plan and self-managed participants.