Responsibilities - Ours, Yours & Our Service

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 Responsibilities of the Provider (Chapters of Care) agrees to -

• Recommend general continence assessments are attended / reviewed every 1-2 years or as needs change & a new Service Agreement (eg for NDIS) will be issued.
• Review the provision of supports at least 3 monthly and annually with the      Participant (only if ongoing services are required ie-catheter changes). 
• Provide a Continence Assessment - includes face to face / phone consult plus documentation as required by NDIS standards; any necessary behind the scenes work (ie ordering pad samples, product recommendations) and report on conclusion of ‘once-off’ episode of care. See below for more information. Ongoing/regular support is not usually necessary.
• Once agreed, provide supports that meet the Participant’s needs at the Participant’s preferred days and / or times. 
• Communicate openly and honestly in a timely manner. 
• Treat the Participant with courtesy and respect. 
• Consult the Participant on decisions about how supports are provided. 
• Give the Participant information about managing any complaints or disagreements and details of the provider’s cancellation policy (if relevant). 
• Listen to the Participant’s feedback and resolve problems quickly. 
• Give the Participant a minimum of 24 hours’ notice if the Provider must change a scheduled appointment (eg due to illness) to provide supports & provide alternative options. 
• Give the Participant the required notice if the Provider needs to end the      Service Agreement, unless a significant breach / incident has occurred. 
• Take steps to protect the Participant’s privacy and confidential information, as best as possible. 
• Provide supports in a manner consistent with all relevant laws, including the National Disability Insurance Scheme Act 2013 and rules, and the Australian Consumer Law; keep accurate records on the supports provided to the Participant, and 
• Issue regular & prompt invoices of the supports delivered to the Participant. See below for further details regarding invoicing.
  
   

• Inform the Provider about how they wish the supports to be delivered to meet the  Client’s needs. ie – this could be face to face or telehealth consults.  
• Treat the Provider with courtesy and respect.  
• In the instance of a home visit – to refrain from smoking in the Providers      vicinity; ensure any pets/animals are secured away, for work health safety reasons.  
• Clinic Visits - If you drive a car or have someone that can help drive you (eg Spouse, Carer, Support Worker, Taxi Driver etc), or don't live in our Home Visit zone, we would prefer you to attend our clinic. We have a wealth of resources to share that we store at the clinic. If you are genuinely unable to attend the clinic, due to physical and/or cognitive reasons and don't have access to transport, we can arrange a home visit within our zone.
• Talk to the Provider if the Client has any concerns about the supports      being provided.
• Give the Provider a minimum of 24 hours’ notice (via phone message / sms / email) if the Client cannot make a scheduled appointment (eg due to illness); and if the notice is not provided by then, the Provider’s cancellation policy will apply.  
• Give the Provider the required notice if the Client needs to end the Service Agreement (NDIS Participants), to the best of their ability or unless a significant breach / incident occurs. 
• Let the Provider know immediately if the Participant’s NDIS plan is suspended or replaced by a new NDIS plan or the Participant stops being a Participant in the NDIS.  
• Let the Provider know immediately of a change in plan management &      stakeholders, and
• Confirm they have sufficient funds in their related NDIS plan to cover the services estimate, or method of payment is confirmed (eg self-funded, compensable).

• We provide a health care service to community clients who may have a variety of disabilities, chronic health conditions & illnesses. 
• We understand appointments may need to be changed or cancelled. Please try to give us at least 24hrs notice. We are busy people too, and appreciate the 'heads up' to allow for changes to workflow & other client appointments. 
• If an appointment has a last-minute cancellation (ie same day / short notice) due to unavoidable medical issues like needing to go to your GP / Hospital AND we can rebook for another day, then we don't usually apply our cancellation charges. 
• If an appointment has a last-minute cancellation (ie same day / short notice) due to you forgetting, double-booking yourself, cancelling and not rebooking etc we may apply our cancellation charges - we like to be fair & reasonable as we would anticipate in return.
• If you are up to 15min late for a clinic appointment, we reserve the right to shorten the duration of the appointment (depending on other client bookings). If you are going to be more than 15min late, this may affect other client bookings and this is unfair to the next person to run over time. If you are going to be delayed, please contact us via phone, as we may still be able to accommodate your appointment timeslot on the day. We reserve the right to rebook an appointment and may charge a cancellation fee. We do like to be fair & reasonable as we would anticipate in return. 
• If a home visit appointment is booked & we commence travel and you are not home or are more than 15-30mins late, then it is highly likely we will charge a fee to recover some travel & time costs. This applicability will always be determined within the NDIS guidelines and by the Manager. We will always attempt to phone you if we knock & don't get an answer.
• NDIS Pricing Arrangements include short notice cancellations as a 2 clear      business day notice timeframe. Including claiming up to 100% of the scheduled fee.  We try to be reasonable and flexible with any cancellations, in line with NDIS guidelines.  
• Please refer to the Pricing Arrangements for more information. https://www.ndis.gov.au/providers/pricing-arrangements

• Referrals will only be accepted if they are completed on our Referral Request      e-template.
• We aim to acknowledge receipt of a referral within 2-3 available business days. 
• We reserve the right to decline a referral (this may be due to clinician skills, staff availability, or client location for example) and we will let you know why.
• Please note we work part-time hours - generally 4 days per week (Wed, Thu, Fri, Sat). 

• We understand clients (or your advocate) might like the convenience of making their own appointment - using our handy booking tool. This generates email  & SMS notification to us both - including day, time, location etc. You don't need to create an account to do so.  It will also send a handy reminder 24hrs prior. Nice one! 
• If you would like to speak to a human to get more information, please contact      us. Because sometimes the auto-bots don't have all the answers ;)
• In times of service demand, delivery changes, worker illness etc, there may be a delay between referral acceptance and appointment. 
• We tend to book in closer, rather than too far in advance. 
• Generally we have capacity and availability in approx 1-2 weeks for clinic visits. If you have an urgent request please let us know and we will do our best to accommodate your request.

We provide a "one-off" episode of care. In a nutshell, this means - 

• we accept the referral
• we make a booking
• we  provide a Service Agreement indicating our estimated charges. Usually this episode of care is quoted as 7hrs = 6hrs clinical work plus 1hr travel (as required / region dependent). Complex work may require an additional appointment and may need extra 2-3hrs+ approx.
• we  attend the clinic visit / home visit / telehealth / phone appointment
• we provide any related clinical follow up - sample ordering, advice,      recommendations, product information, research & any other 'behind the scenes' work
• we  provide a report outlining your continence issues (if this is required by the NDIA), how this relates to your daily life, any products you might need to help manage your incontinence & estimate of costs for 12 months
• we suggest a continence assessment is attended every 1 to 2 years, or sooner if your clinical needs change.
• this concludes our intervention.
• then we start the process again with another referral as required
• we don't have a call-back system, and we don't believe clients should be 'hounded' for repeat business (so we won't contact you 1 year later for example) and we don't have any ongoing 'claim' over any continence assessment clients (peoples wishes are respected to choose their own providers).

• We can provide a "one-off" episode of care - Catheter Assessment (indwelling or intermittent), product review, education as required and report. Usually 6hrs clinical work.
• We can provide "ongoing" services for Catheter changes - home visits (location dependent) for regular, scheduled male, female or SPC catheter changes, education & report as required. Individual fee schedule applies determined by visit frequency, duration & travel associated. Service Agreement provided. 

We aim to invoice promptly after the service is delivered, and our terms are generally 7 business days. Invoices are sent from our software program.

Invoicing for Continence Assessments - We generally invoice in 2 stages: 

(1) Within 1-2 business days of the appointment to cover the visit & travel or phone call time; casenotes; follow up work & emails. After stage 1 payment is received, then further clinical work can occur (eg product research & report writing - if/as required for NDIS purposes).

(2) After the outcome report has been completed and sent to the client & other relevant professionals.

We reserve the right to withhold outcome reports or watermark the report as 'draft' until at least stage 1 payment is received. 

Invoicing for Catheter Care - We generally invoice within 1-2 business days of each appointment. 

This would include face to face time; clinical review time (necessary to maintain AHPRA Nursing standards); care plan updates or changes; case notes; preparing & restocking sterile equipment; any follow up with other involved health care professionals; related travel time; charges for sterile consumable equipment used by our nurses (eg sterile catheter bundle, sterile gloves, lignocaine, syringes, fluids etc) which are invoiced at the cost we pay from our medical suppliers.