WellFemme Nurse and Allied Health Terms and Conditions
DEFINITIONS
Under these Terms and Conditions, “Client” refers to anyone booking a WellFemme consultation online.
“Telehealth” is the use of electronic information and communication technologies by a healthcare provider to deliver services to an individual at a different location. Clients who book a WellFemme consultation are consenting to the provision of health care services by WellFemme practitioners via Telehealth.
The benefits of a Telehealth consultation are that clients do not need to physically travel to the consultation location and therefore can access specialised care which may not otherwise be easily available to them.
INFORMATION HANDLING
Australian privacy laws which apply to the privacy and confidentiality of medical information also apply to Telehealth consultations.
Clients have the right to withhold or withdraw consent to the use of Telehealth at any time either verbally or in writing, without affecting their rights to future care or treatment.
WellFemme does not retain recordings of Telehealth consultations and does not authorise clients to make their own recordings of Telehealth consultations. If either party has a reason for wishing to do so, this must be verbally agreed beforehand and recorded in the medical notes by the clinician.
Clients’ medical information will only be stored on secure, cloud-based medical software and will not be held on any insecure website or computer elsewhere.
For details of how WellFemme’s clinical software provider (Halaxy) collects and handles your data please refer to: https://www.halaxy.com/article/privacy . For information about their data security measures CLICK HERE.
Some of our clinicians use an AI software tool to assist with note taking. This allows them to focus more on the conversation and less on notetaking, but still ensure a thorough written record of your consultation. No enduring audio recordings are retained. Your clinician will notify you at the beginning of your consultation if they intend to use it, but you have the right to decline if you have concerns. CLICK HERE for more information about how our third party provider handles your private information. Conversations recorded for purposes of generating a transcript are routinely deleted afterwards.
Email addresses and phone numbers are required so that WellFemme can contact clients regarding their appointment. Clients booking with WellFemme agree to receive SMS and email reminders unless they contact WellFemme directly to withdraw consent at hello@wellfemme.com.au. Emails will also be added to the WellFemme mailing list to receive information updates and newsletters, but clients can opt out from this at any time.
WellFemme will use secure email or document transfer systems to convey information to clients wherever possible, but the receipt and handling of that information is the clients’ own responsibility. If their email service is insecure it may potentially allow unauthorised access to information received and sent by the client.
WellFemme will take all reasonable steps to mitigate these risks and protect the information sent and received, but the security and confidentiality of all electronic communications cannot be guaranteed.
WellFemme may share information with clients’ usual doctors and/or the Australian e-Health record system with clients’ consent, but clients can withhold or withdraw that consent and/or choose which information is shared.
LIMITATIONS OF WELLFEMME CONSULTATIONS
There are potential risks with Telehealth consultations:
- The video connection may not work or may stop working during the consultation, or
- The image or audio transmitted may not be clear enough to facilitate the consultation. In either case, clients will have the option to complete the consultation by telephone, reschedule, cancel with full refund or make other arrangements with WellFemme.
- Telehealth limits a practitioner’s ability to perform physical examinations, so clients may be directed to see another local practitioner in person if the WellFemme doctor believes it necessary.
WellFemme is not a General Practice; our scope of practice is strictly limited to clients’ clinical needs related to menopause or perimenopause. WellFemme practitioners will not treat or advise on any unrelated medical conditions. They will only make referrals and arrangements that are strictly necessary to facilitate WellFemme treatment plans. They cannot perform a physical examination, and therefore cannot (for medico-legal reasons) take over the roles and responsibilities of a patient’s usual local health carers. They must therefore leave the ordering and followup of routine or “checkup” medical tests to your usual local doctor, including those related to medical conditions they are managing.
Booking a consultation does not guarantee that you will be provided with any particular treatment or medication. Nurses and allied health practitioners cannot legally prescribe regulated medications at all. Treatment options may be discussed and negotiated with clients, but prescribing will require a doctor’s appointment and is at the discretion of the treating doctor after a thorough assessment. There is no guarantee that the doctor will prescribe treatments discussed with or recommended by other clinicians (either WellFemme or non-WellFemme clinicians), and WellFemme doctors will not prescribe any treatment that they consider inappropriate or unacceptably risky for the patient, as per their terms of medical registration and insurance.
WellFemme practitioners all have a higher level of education and training in menopause care, who treat each individual patient according to their assessment of that patient’s needs and best evidence-based options. There is no “standardised approach”. Our clinicians are a group with higher than average knowledge and experience in menopausal treatments, however they are not endocrinologists, gynaecologists, haematologists or psychiatrists. They may from time to time ask for (de-identified) advice from other WellFemme colleagues or refer patients to other specialists or their GP to facilitate the best possible patient care.
Hormonal issues are just one component of symptoms in the menopausal transition. If hormonal treatments do not completely resolve symptoms, then your WellFemme practitioner may refer you back to your local health professional for assessment of other potential causes or contributors.
You must be in Australia at the time of your online consultation.
FEES AND CHARGES
The client is responsible for fees that apply to their Telehealth consultation. Online bookings require a 50% payment upfront using a credit card. Your credit card number will be stored in your secure cloud-based personal profile, to be debited with the remaining 50% of the appointment fee at the time of your consultation. Please phone us on (02) 6179 8724 during weekday business hours if you prefer to book and pay the full fee in advance over the phone without your card number being retained.
Online credit card bookings attract a charge imposed by the software provider of 1.5% plus $1; this fee is added to the consultation fee paid by the client. Clients who wish to avoid paying this credit card fee should contact WellFemme at hello@wellfemme.com.au for other payment options, such as direct bank deposit.
For financially disadvantaged clients: if we agree to delay prepayment and/or accept a reduced deposit we will record credit card details to debit the applicable fee in cases of non-attendance or late changes/ cancellations.
There may be Medicare rebates for a limited range of nurse and allied health services for clients with a GP care plan. Practitioners can advise which services can be provided under a care plan, and send information to guide GP’s in expanding the care plan’s scope. Medicare rebates are limited to clients who are Australian citizens with a valid Medicare card who are located in Australia at the time of the consultation. WellFemme collects Medicare card details to facilitate the processing of rebates on clients’ behalf as an additional service, but it remains the Client’s responsibility to claim their rebate from Medicare if processing fails for some reason.
Medicare details are stored securely and not shared with any other entity except Medicare. In cases where bulk-billing is offered and accepted, the client assigns their benefit directly to the practitioner who has rendered the service (as per Department of Human Services form DB4E- Bulk Bill voucher).
LATE NOTICE CANCELLATION/ FAILURE TO ATTEND
Clients may make booking changes or cancellations up to 2 days before their consultation without charge by contacting us at hello@wellfemme.com.au. Late-notice cancellation or failure to attend may result in the applicable cancellation fee being debited from the client’s credit card as follows:
- 12-48 hours prior: $20
- 2-12 hours prior: half the consultation charge
- Cancellations within 2 hours of the appointment time or failure to attend: Full consultation fee is forfeited.
MULTIPLE RESCHEDULES
You may reschedule your appointment up to three times if needed, with a minimum of 48 hours notice. Any further reschedules after that will incur a $50 admin fee, and rescheduling or cancelling within 48 hours of the appointment time will incur additional fees as listed above.