Fees & Billing Structure
Our transparent pricing structure ensures consistent and fair fees for our clients, allowing therapists to provide as much support as possible towards achieving everyone’s goals.
Read below to learn more about our pricing structure breakdown for initial and ongoing appointments.
Pricing
Please see below for our pricing structure for private, NDIS, and Medicare funded appointments.
Our standard appointment fee is $200/hour prior to any rebate. NDIS Clients receive a discounted rate of 193.99/183.99 due to NDIS pricing limits. Travel is an additional charge for community visits (home, school, hydrotherapy etc) capped at 30 minutes. There is also a charge for kilometres travelled by a therapist.
Initial Appointment
Medicare Fee: 90 minutes = $300
Private Fee: 90 minutes = $300
All initial appointments are conducted in clinic with a parent/carer present.
This includes:
60 minutes of a face-to-face information gathering session which involves getting to know each child and parent/carer, discuss assessment, intervention, therapy recommendations and goal setting.
30 minutes of post-session documentation including clinical analysis and planning.
NDIS Fee: 90 minutes = $290.99
Second Appointment
Medicare Fee: 90 minutes = $300
Private Fee: 90 minutes = $300
This includes:
45 minutes of direct therapy time where our therapists work with each child and parent/carer on their specific goals.
45 minutes at the end of the session to review the goals and develop an initial therapy plan, review the service agreement, and the completion of the Schedule of Therapy with the admin team.
NDIS Fee: 90 minutes = $290.99
Private Fee: 60 minutes = $200
Ongoing Appointments
This includes:
Initial 45 minutes of all ongoing sessions is direct therapy time where our therapists work with each child and parent/carer on their specific goals and end of therapy handover to set you up for the week/fortnight ahead.
The final 15 minutes is for the therapist to complete any clinical documentation and planning for the next session.
NDIS Fee: 60 minutes = $193.99
Medicare Fee: 60 minutes = $200
Times may vary based on individual therapy needs as discussed with your therapy team.
The Therapy Iceberg
Have you heard of the Therapy Iceberg?
This refers to all the tasks that make up effective, high-quality therapy, and highlights how much work is done behind the scenes.
Therapy sessions and assessments are the “visible” aspects of therapy. However, the “less visible” therapy supports are all the tasks your therapists complete outside of therapy sessions to ensure that these sessions supports your child as much as possible towards achieving their goals. These “less visible” activities make all the difference when providing a high-quality therapy service.
Terms & Conditions
Supports and Support Fee Policy
The policy outlines a comprehensive range of supports tailored to paediatric clients and their families. These include therapeutic services such as occupational therapy, physical therapy, and speech/language therapy. Our services can also include educational support, nutritional guidance, and family coaching. Additionally, this encompasses social work services for advocacy and care coordination, developmental assessments, trials and assistance with specialised equipment, and home-based, school or community services when accessible. Parent education, support groups, and efforts in research and advocacy further enhance our clinic's commitment to a holistic approach to care and improved outcomes for children.
Rates for Services are as follows:
Therapeutic Supports; $200.00/hour for Speech Pathology, Occupational Therapy and Physiotherapy
Travel time; $200.00/hour for Speech Pathology, Occupational Therapy and Physiotherapy
Travel distance charged at a rate of $1/km for each kilometre travelled by the clinician for any community, home or school visits.
Rates for NDIS Services are as follows:
Therapeutic Supports (0128) and Early Intervention Support (0118) $193.99/hour for Speech Pathology and Occupational Therapy, $183.99/hour for Physiotherapy
Travel time up to 30 minutes; $97.00/hour for Speech Pathology and Occupational Therapy, $91.99/hour for Physiotherapy
Travel distance charged at a rate of $1/km for each kilometre travelled by the clinician for any community, home or school visits.
Lifespan Therapies operates on a mixed service model, comprised of direct therapy intervention and indirect supports that are vital for goal achievement and progress, allowing for quality service delivery. This price applies for all chargeable services including:
Direct therapy provision
Late cancellations and no shows
Regular session related indirect supports (medicolegal documentation and preparation for all service delivery, therapy preparation, goal setting and review of goals, resource maintenance and stakeholder liaison to enable successful provision)
Additional supports including reports, letters of support, AT Applications, resource production, programming, stakeholder meetings, case conferences and phone calls/emails. Internal case conferencing and goal review occurs on a quarterly basis (but may vary depending on the client) to ensure all supports align to ensure maximal service quality and goal attainment.
Therapy Provision and Schedule of Supports
After completing initial assessments, the therapy team will organise with the participant and nominee to complete goal setting, determine suitable supports to achieve the NDIS goals and allow completion of the Schedule of Therapy. Supports suggested may not be delivered by the same therapist at all times. Allied Health Assistants are often utilised to maximise therapy outcomes.
When the leading therapist is unavailable (eg. sick or on leave), we may allocate an Allied Health Assistant when suitable to ensure continued progress of therapy. Should this occur, it will be charged at the AHA rate of $86.79 + travel and km fees. If continued AHA services are wanting to be explored, a separate agreement and schedule of supports will be provided.
All clients have a standard annual allocation to their Schedule of Therapies. Please note this time allowance may not always be fully used or utilised. Should more than this allocated amount be required, therapists will discuss the recommended support time/funding required prior to complete before proceeding. The hours stated below will increase if the client sees multiple disciplines.
5 hours (minimum) Annual reporting and non-contact supports: this is to cover the annual progress and/or summary report that therapists provide for clients and the NDIS to provide support of funding and appropriate supports. Where you require a complete report (including a NDIS progress report), our therapists require minimum 4-6 weeks’ notice to complete these assessments and reports. Our therapists will recommend a summary progress report to be completed as a minimum. This will ensure you have documented evidence of your child's progress for your own records.
5 hours (minimum) for Resources: This allowance can cover letters, summary documents and indirect services as time spent by the team for tasks specific to the child, such as individual resources.
5 hours (minimum) Stakeholder collaboration for progress updates and reviews with the clients family/guardians. As well as other clinicians within the multidisciplinary care team, including external supports. Phone calls or emails to schools/supports services/ stakeholders meetings for collaboration and therapy planning.
Goals will be reviewed at regular intervals appropriate for the participant, to ensure goals are on track to being achieved. These goal reviews are an important to communicate progress to all members of the care team and maximise outcomes. Charges will be made based on the duration of these meetings, in line with our price guide.
If a client is seen without their primary caregiver in a community setting, a quarterly review is required during school holidays. At least one session will be dedicated to this review, focusing on the treatment plan, updated coaching, and NDIS contributions. This policy ensures clear communication and supports your child's development, with face-to-face or telehealth options available. For clients receiving services from multiple therapists, joint sessions can be requested, subject to management approval.
Goods and Services Tax (GST)
As a supplier of services and supports registered for GST, most services provided to the NDIS participant will be GST-free in accordance with the New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax) Act 1999. Specifically, under section 38-38 of the Act, supplies of disability supports are GST-free if they are provided to a participant of the NDIS under a plan approved by the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA).
Self-Managed Clients
If you are self-managed:
Payment is required on the day for private clients with these appointments to be held in the clinic unless prior arrangements have been made. All invoices are to be paid within 7 days of being received.
Should accounts be more than two invoices outstanding, appointments will be placed on hold and clients returned to waitlist. This policy allows us to continue being able to offer high quality, tailored support for all clients to achieve their goals.
You are solely responsible for submitting a Payment Request to receive the funds under your NDIS Plan/NDIS Budget.
We reserve the right to reduce the Supports or stop providing the Supports to you if payment is not in accordance with this Agreement and we may refer you to a collection agency.
IMPORTANT PAYMENT INFORMATION: You must put the invoice number LT… in the second reference line of any bank transfers to ensure we accurately match your payment.
Plan-Managed Clients
If you are plan-managed, we will send invoices to your Plan Manager for payment.
If your funds are NDIA-managed, we create a Service Booking in the NDIS Portal in accordance with this agreement, then make subsequent payment requests after providing Supports.
Cancellation Policy
At Lifespan Therapies, if you need to cancel or reschedule an appointment, we require 2 clear business days’ notice as therapists prepare sessions ahead of time. If we are not advised of your cancellation with 2 clear business days’ notice, 100% of the fee applies. This is to ensure we remain a viable business and continue supporting many other children and participants in the community. Where possible, therapists utilise these paid cancellations to complete indirect supports required for your child/participant.
For NDIS participants, charges apply as per the NDIS guidelines. Although the NDIS policy advises that 100% appointment fees are to be charged for all appointments cancelled within 7 clear days, we understand that 7 days' notice can be hard to plan for families, and only require 2 clear business days’ notice of cancellations. In the event where a therapist arrives at the therapy location and the session cannot occur, both the session fee & the travel cost will also be charged for this appointment.
Cancellations less than 48 hours before the time of your appointment incur a 100% cancellation fee.
Failure to attend an appointment without providing prior notice incurs a 100% cancellation fee.
Repeat Cancellations
As a reminder, fees are charged for appointments cancelled within our cancellation period of two business days.
To provide a fair and timely service, as per the Lifespan Therapies Service Agreement, if the client/family cancel or do not attend more than 3 appointments within 3 months, management reserve the right to cease services or place the client back onto the waitlist and the existing spot given to someone else on our waitlist.
Please note all the above decisions are purely at the discretion of the Lifespan Management Team and not our therapist or admin team. If you have any concerns please contact management directly at management@lifespantherapies.com.au
Sickness Policy
It is vital that should your child/client or anyone in your household be sick with flu, gastro, COVID-19 or any other illnesses that could be transmitted to others, that therapy is cancelled to prevent spread and further sickness. We reserve the right to cease therapy sessions if we are aware of illness to prevent further illness. Where possible therapists complete other tasks in these allocated cancellation times.
Engagement in Sessions Policy
Active engagement during sessions is essential. Your involvement is critical to your child’s success. We encourage parents to be involved and support the activities at home as recommended by our therapists. This ensures that your child is getting the most out of our sessions and making steady progress. If we have concerns of poor engagement and uptake of recommendations, we will need to reassess the therapy scheduling and consider alternatives or therapy breaks to ensure the best outcomes.
Our Responsibilities
RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE PROVIDER
The provider agrees to:
Review support provisions at least quarterly with the client/participant nominee to ensure supports meet the participants goals and needs
Communication is open, honest and provided in a timely manner
Treat the participant and their supports with courtesy and respect
Consult the client / guardian / family and their supports on how therapy is provided
Provide the participant with information relevant to management of complaints, feedback and details of the cancellation policy (including updates)
Listen to the participants feedback and resolve problems quickly
Give the participant required notice if the provider needs to end the service agreement
Protect the participant’s privacy and confidential information
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 invoices and statements, with clear terms and conditions, to the participant.
If a client has a support coordinator, all clinical discussions and decisions will be made directly between the family and their therapist. While support coordinators are welcome to provide recommendations, we will not make any adjustments to reports or plans without written consent from the family. This ensures that all decisions align with the family’s preferences and the child’s best interests.
RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE PARTICIPANT/PARTICIPANT NOMINEE
The participant and their supports/nominee agrees to:
Engage in goal setting and therapy planning to ensure supports are delivered appropriately to meet the participant goals, needs and expectations
Treat the provider with courtesy and respect
Talk to the provider at any time should concerns arise
Participant nominee is to be contactable during therapy times and present for completion of sessions. Therapists are unable to remain with the participant after the end time of the appointment
As we provide home and community visits, it is a condition that family pets and animals (unless specific assistance animals) be kept out of the therapy space for the duration of the session.
Give the provider notice and follow the cancellation policy with regards to cancellation of therapy appointments. If notice is within the cancellation period, charges will apply.
Give the provider required notice for ending the service agreement (See ‘Ending this service Agreement’ below for more information)
Let the provider know immediately if the NDIS plan is changed in any way – including exhaustion of funds, suspended, expired or replaced with a new plan OR if the participant stops being an NDIS participant
REQUIREMENTS OF ALL PARTIES INVOLVED
All parties will communicate in a respectful and considerate manner. Aggressive and disrespectful behaviour and communication will not be tolerated, and we reserve the right to cease services should these behaviours occur or impact our service delivery.
All decisions regarding therapy will be discussed in a collaborative manner with the participant, participant nominee and therapy team and agreed upon together.
Termination
Either party may terminate this service agreement by providing the other party with four weeks’ notice.
Regular appointments during this time period are to be billed as usual with ongoing attendance or conversion to non face-to-face supports and preparation of handover supports.
If a party breaches this service agreement, the other party may terminate this agreement without notice if that breach is not remedied within 7 days.
Feedback & Complaints
If the participant wishes to give the provider feedback, or is not happy with the provision of services / supports and wishes to make a complaint - they can talk to a Director on 3495 0230 or submit this via email to management@lifespantherapies.com.au or via the website.
If the participant is not satisfied or does not want to talk to the designated person, they may refer their complaint to:
The Office of the Australian Commissioner Enquiries Line. They can be contacted on; phone 1300 363 992 or email enquiries@oaic.gov.au
The National Disability Insurance Agency, for states under their Jurisdiction. They can be contacted on phone 1800 800 110 or email feedback@ndis.gov.au
The NDIS Safeguards and Quality Commission, for states under their Jurisdiction. They can be contacted on phone 1800 035 544 or email contactcentre@ndiscommission.gov.au OR complaints@ndiscommission.gov.au