Terms of Trade & Conditions (Section C)

Agreement between You (Client) & Word By Mouth Pty Ltd

1. Payment in full is required on the day of appointment.

2. The person responsible for the account will accept full liability for all services including rejected funding, gaps, co-payments and rebates.

3. Clients who have three (3) outstanding invoices and /or have cancelled or missed three (3) out of six (6) appointments (regardless of reason including illness) may be placed back on Word By Mouth Pty Ltd’s waitlist. You agree that provision of service is subject to Word By Mouth Pty Ltd’s Cancellation and Waitlist policies.

4. An account keeping fee of $25 per month will be imposed on overdue accounts greater than 30 days from the date of invoice.

5. Accounts referred to a Collection Agency or Solicitor will have all legal costs and commissions added to the amount due. Word By Mouth Pty Ltd reserves all rights to recover any debts from you.

6. Cancellations & Missed Appointments: twenty-four (24) hours’ notice is required for all appointment cancellations. Where cancellation notification is received within (24) hours, 70% of the full appointment cost plus GST will be charged. For no notification of cancellation, full appointment costs plus GST will be charged. If you need to cancel a Monday appointment, please leave a message at the clinic on 9873 0102 by Sunday to ensure you do not incur the above-mentioned fee charges. Sometimes children wake up unwell on the day of the appointment; if you telephone Word By Mouth’s office on 9873 0102 by 9am (strictly) on the day of appointment, the cancellation fee will not be charged.

7. The SMS service is a complimentary reminder service – appointment times are strictly your responsibility.

8. You understand that your speech pathologist is treating other clients in-person and you accept that there are risks of COVID-19 infection or any other infectious diseases associated with in-person service delivery and will not hold Word By Mouth Pty Ltd liable. Provision of service is subject to Word By Mouth’s Infection Control Policy. You will notify Word By Mouth Pty Ltd immediately if your family’s health situation is likely to impact on the delivery of speech pathology services.

9. Word By Mouth Pty Ltd reserves the right to reflect service provision fees based on complexity.

10. You understand that this Agreement includes your family’s commitment to the roles and responsibilities as outlined in Section F (below).

11. Word By Mouth Pty Ltd has the right to change the terms and conditions of this Agreement, but the latest version will always appear on our website at www.wordbymouth.com.au. If you continue to use our services after changes have been made to this Agreement, you will be considered to have accepted the changes to the Agreement between yourself and Word By Mouth Pty Ltd.

12. That Word By Mouth Pty Ltd and Accent Assist programs and their corresponding materials (ie manuals; digital productions etc) remain the intellectual property of Word By Mouth Pty Ltd. Under no circumstances can these materials be reproduced or copied without the prior written consent from Word By Mouth Pty Ltd. Heavy penalties apply to breach of copyright.

13. For NDIS clients: All NDIS participants must be aware of the Goods and Services Tax (GST): For the purposes of GST legislation, the Parties confirm that: a supply of supports under this Service Agreement is a supply of one or more of the reasonable and necessary supports specified in the statement included, under subsection 33(2) of the National Disability Insurance Scheme Act 2013 (NDIS Act), in the Participant’s NDIS plan currently in effect under section 37 of the NDIS Act; the Participant’s NDIS plan is expected to remain in effect during the period the supports are provided; and the [Participant / Participant’s representative] will immediately notify the Provider if the Participant’s NDIS plan is replaced by a new plan or the Participant stops being a participant in the NDIS.

Roles & Responsibilities (Section F)

At Word By Mouth we strive to provide the highest quality speech pathology service that is informed by current research and supported by motivating and enjoyable activities. As joint partners with you in the delivery of quality intervention, we would like to highlight your role and responsibilities in this process as parents:

Word By Mouth will ensure to work collaboratively with you to ensure the services and supports delivered meet your family’s needs. Your speech pathologist will take a great deal of time planning and preparing therapy for each session. As a result, we appreciate your regular attendance at each session (this includes parents). This is important so newly learnt skills can be practised, transferred into new settings and maintained over time. Maximising the effectiveness of therapy is our goal at Word By Mouth Speech Pathology. The research clearly informs us that new skills will transfer more effectively if practised regularly, although the amount of time required for skills to transfer does vary from client to client.

To ensure your child receives the best results from therapy, home practice as set by the Speech Pathologist is essential. The effectiveness of therapy is dependent on the number of times an activity is practised (dosage) multiplied by the number of times you practise per week (dose frequency) multiplied by the total period of time that therapy is provided (cumulative intervention intensity) (Baker & Williams, 2011; Warren et al, 2007).

Due to the time spent preparing for sessions and our list of clients currently waiting to be allocated a session time, we appreciate you adhering to our cancellation policy (refer to Terms of Trade). This includes notifying your speech pathologist of work commitments, school excursions or closure days in addition to school absences and illnesses. Failure to comply with our Terms of Trade will result in a payment request.

Please note, for all third-party communications, letters, and reports, we require a 6-week notification period for this to be completed. For all assessment reports there is a 6-week turnaround time from the last assessment appointment time to the report being sent. This is due to the thorough nature of the assessments and our peer review process. T

To get the very best results for each client, we do ask parents to ensure that siblings are well behaved within the clinic or cared for by other family members at home.

As a practice, we encourage attendance by parents at assessment and intervention sessions. Vital information is exchanged during these times.

Please be aware that we will always endeavour to be on time for your therapy session. However, as you would appreciate, we work with people and as a result, some sessions may run over time due to the need to discuss the educational/health issues of clients following a therapy session.

We have a Zero Tolerance Policy for behaviours that are abusive and hurtful. We do not tolerate violence, aggression, abuse, harassment, or threatening behaviours in any form. Such unwelcomed behaviours may result in suspension or the immediate withdrawal of our supports and services including ending our professional relationship with you. Such actions are to ensure a safe environment for everyone. It is therefore vital that you and your family treat everyone at Word by Mouth with care and respect. This also reflects our commitment to Child Safety Standards as per our Child Safety Policy.

For sessions conducted at our Mitcham clinic, we will always endeavour to process Health Insurance claims on the spot. However, there may be times when unfortunately, our administration support is unavailable. On these days we ask for your cooperation in regards to payment. We ask that you pay your speech pathologist directly and we will organise a receipt to be emailed to you as soon as possible which you can then take directly to Medicare or your Health Insurer for reimbursement. At all other service locations, we will debit your credit card (as per terms of Authority to Debit credit Card) and forward a receipt as soon as possible so that you can claim your rebate from Medicare or your Health Insurer. Please note: that all our accounts/billing is located at our Mitcham clinic. If you have a account enquiry please call our office on 9873 0102.

If you are cancelling a session, please call our office on 9873 0102 and leave a message. Please also note that should you need to cancel a Monday appointment, you do so by contacting the clinic by latest 6pm Sunday evening and leaving a message. Your notification will be received and noted. This will also ensure that do not incur a fee charge as per Terms of Trade and Conditions (Section C).

Word By Mouth would appreciate prompt notification of any changes to your initial paperwork completed, this includes change of contact details. It is your responsibility to notify us immediately of any changes to your: family’s living arrangements; guardianship/legal status; contact details (including telephone, email, address); payment details (including credit card changes, person responsible for account) etc.

To stay informed, please access our policies via our website: wordbymouth.com.au

Should you have any questions about any of our policies and procedures, then please contact our Client Services team or your speech pathologist who can assist with your query. Thank you very much for your cooperation and we look forward to working with you to achieve the best possible communication outcomes for you and your family.