Claremont Meadows Dental Surgery

Privacy Policy & Terms and Conditions

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In accordance with the Privacy Act 1988

Our practice respects your right to privacy. We realise that it is important that you understand the purpose for which we collect details about your health, as well as how this information is used at our practice and to whom this information might be disclosed.

The policy of our practice is to follow these procedures:

1. Information collected from you will be used solely for the purpose of providing treatment that is most appropriate to your circumstances.

2. Personal information such as your name, address, and health insurance details will be used for the purpose of addressing accounts to you, as well as processing payments and writing to you about any issues affecting your treatment.

3. Our staff may contact you on available telephone numbers and email addresses. A contact number is required at time of appointment so that we can contact you to confirm your appointments or should there be any issues relating to your scheduled appointment. When our staff contact you and you are not available, they may leave messages which identify the caller or sender and the purpose for which the communication is made.

4. We may disclose your health information to other health professions, or require it from them if in our judgement, it is necessary in the context of your treatment. This will be discussed with you by your dentist prior to that event. In the event that it is required, such as referrals to specialists, disclosure of your personal details will be minimised wherever possible.

5. Your patient history, treatment records, x-rays and any other material relevant to your treatment will be kept here. You may request copies of your treatment records at any time from your treating dentist. If you want copies a fee may apply. If you require an explanation of your records or a written summary, a consultation fee or other charge may apply.

6. If any information we have about you is inaccurate, you may ask us to alter our records accordingly.

7. Your information may be disclosed to a third party only in the event that any unpaid accounts are referred to a debt collection agency and/or law firm. Please refer to “Payment of Dental Services”.

You may otherwise be assured that your health information will be treated with the utmost confidentiality. Disclosure will not be made to any person not involved in either your treatment or the administration of this practice, without your prior consent. If you have any queries or concerns about handling of your health information, please do not hesitate to raise these concerns with our practice.

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Payment of Dental Services

Full payment is required for all Dental Services rendered at the completion of each dental appointment. All fees and costs will be discussed with you by your dentist prior to commencement of any treatment. A consultation fee will be charged on all initial appointments, follow up examinations or emergency appointments. Your Private Health Fund Card is required at the time of your appointment to be able to claim directly from your Health Insurance Provider, otherwise full payment is required. In the event, that collection action is required, it is a term of the provision of these services that the patient shall be liable for all debt collection fees and other charges, including but not limited to agent’s fees, solicitor’s costs and disbursements.

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Fail to attend / Late cancellation policy

Florey Dental Care aims to treat all patients fairly at all times. A significant amount of valuable clinical time is wasted when appointment are not attended. Patients who fail to attend their appointments or who a cancel an appointment with insufficient notice waste clinical time that could be used for treatment of other patients.

To avoid the cost of failed or late cancelled appointments being passed onto the rest of our patients, we will charge for multiple missed or short notice cancellation of appointments.

We understand that on occasion, life throws up all sorts of situations that prevent one from being able to attend an appointment or even contact to advise that the appointment will not be attended. As these situations are unavoidable they are not the sort of failed appointments that this policy aims to address.

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Cancelled appointments

Cancelled appointments will not incur any charge when cancelled with 24 hours or more notice. If it is not possible to keep an appointment please let us know as soon as possible so we can offer the appointment to someone else. If you are unsure whether you can make it to the appointment, please contact us to discuss the matter rather than leaving it to the last minute.

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Fail to attend and short notice cancellation of appointments

Failing to attend or cancelling within 24 hours two times within a 12 month period will result in a fee being charged unless there are exceptional circumstances. Patients will be informed verbally and/or in writing and it will be recorded in the patient records. If a second appointment is missed in similar circumstances, then it is likely that a fee will be invoiced in the patients account. Fees will be charged at $65 per appointment missed and may also result in a non-refundable deposit requirement prior to future appointments being scheduled.

No further appointments will be offered until the missed appointment is settled.

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Child Dental Benefits Scheme

The Child Dental Benefits Schedule (CDBS) provides eligible families with children aged 2-17 years old with access to a benefit of $1000* for eligible dental services over a 2 calendar year period.

The CDBS provides individuals benefits for a range of services including examinations, x-rays, cleaning, fissure sealing, fillings, root canals and extractions. Benefits are not available for orthodontics or cosmetic dental work and cannot be paid for any services provided in a hospital. The CDBS continues to be means tested, which requires of Family Tax Benefit Part A or a relevant Australian Government payment.

CDBS is available at Florey Dental Care, in accordance with eligibility and terms and conditions. You are required to advise reception to ensure that it is claimed through CDBS. For privacy reasons we are not able to check your eligibility without your prior consent.

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Bulk Billed CDBS fail to attend and short notice cancel appointments

We bulk bill appointments under the Child Dental Benefits Scheme to assist eligible families in seeking dental treatment without having to pay up front. Failing to attend or cancelling within 24 hours two times within a 12 month period will result in us not being able to reschedule appointments at the practice under the Child Dental Benefits Scheme. Any reschedule appointments will be considered private and fees will be charged for any future failure to attend or short notice cancels. Patients will be informed verbally and/or in writing and it will be recorded in the patient records.

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Appointment timing and arriving late

As with all medical facilities, we aim to see our patients on time but due to the nature of healthcare, this is not always possible. If patients turn up late for their appointments it can put the dentist further behind and result in running late for subsequent appointments. It will be up to the treating dentist as to whether there is enough of the appointment left to provide treatment.

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Reminders

Reminders will be sent for those with mobile numbers registered on our system 1-2 days prior to the appointment. All messages sent by our system are logged if successfully sent. It is your responsibility to check message details to ensure that we are informed of any changes to your mobile number or for the appointment scheduled. Text messages are sent as a courtesy and failure of the system for any reason is not sufficient reason for failing to attend appointments. For patients without a mobile number registered on our system or who have not replied to the text message we will attempt to contact by phone to confirm.

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Australian Charter of Health Care Rights

The charter describes the rights that consumers, or someone they care, for can expect when receiving health care. See ACHR Website here for second edition of charter.

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Further information

For clarification on any matter in relation to this policy please contact us at Florey Dental Care 62582255 or via email