4.7 Fees and Billing
Effective September 2015; Revised June 2022
This standard is applicable to regulated members working in a private practice environment.
Standard
A regulated member of ACSLPA, working in a private practice environment, ensures that fees for products/services are justifiable and that clients are informed of fee schedules prior to the delivery of services.
Indicators
To demonstrate this standard, the regulated member will:
a) Ensure that the fees charged for products/services are justifiable.
b) Fully disclose the fee schedules for products/services including fees for assessment and intervention; reports; equipment and any other associated costs.
c) Obtain and document clients’ consent for fees prior to service delivery.
d) Provide clients with accurate, detailed invoices regarding fees in a timely manner.
e) Maintain accurate financial records related to fees and services provided.
f) Correct any fee or billing discrepancies in a timely manner.
Expected Outcomes
Clients can expect that the fees for products/services received are transparent and they are fully informed of fee schedules prior to the initiation of services.
Glossary
Assessment refers to “the rehabilitation process for gathering in-depth information to identify the individual’s strengths and needs related to body function, body structure, activity and participation, to understand the individual’s goals and then to determine appropriate services and interventions based on these. It is initiated when there are questions about a client’s needs and how best to meet these needs. It includes both formal and informal measures ranging from administering standardized assessment tools to observing a client in a specific setting or listening to family concerns.”
Client refers to “a recipient of speech-language pathology or audiology services, and may be an individual, family, group, community or population. An individual client may also be referred to as a patient.”
Intervention/intervention strategy refers to “an activity or set of activities aimed at modifying a process, course of action or sequence of events in order to change one or several of their characteristics, such as performance or expected outcome.” In speech-language pathology and audiology, intervention is a term used to describe the various services provided to clients, including but not limited to individual and group treatment, counselling, home programming, caregiver training, devices, discharge planning, etc.”
Record refers to “information in any form or medium, including notes, images, audiovisual recordings, x-rays, books, documents, maps, drawings, photographs, letters, vouchers and papers and any other information that is written, photographed, recorded or stored in any manner.”
Regulated member refers to “an individual who is registered with ACSLPA in any of the regulated categories of membership prescribed by ACSLPA Bylaws, the Health Professions Act and our Regulations.”
Timely refers to “coming early or at the right time; appropriate or adapted to the times of the occasion.”