How it starts: the intake
The first appointment – the intake – is the start of the therapy.. If you have a dutch healthcare insurance it is important to bring your referral from your general practitioner, medical officer or other medical specialist with you in order to eligible for a possible coverage of the costs by your insurance.
During the intake we will discuss your psychological problems and formulate a request for help. We will also formulate the goal of the treatment and an impression is given of the duration and severity of the therapy. It is also possible that you are advised to find treatment elsewhere because this would better fit with your psychological problems. In this case, you will be referred to your general practitioner.
The GBGGZ
You will be treated within the Generalistic Basic Mental Healthcare (GBGGZ) after your general practitioner and the practice assistant for mental healthcare(POH) this is the next step in getting help with psychological problems.
Rates and duration
* The rates are determined by the Dutch healthcare authority (Nederlandse Zorgautoriteit/NZa).
The rates of treatment depend on the sort and duration of the consultation. Diagnostic consultation (the first or first several consultations) costs 183,44euro’s per hour and a treatment consultation is charged 161,46 per session.
Will the treatment be covered by the insurance?
If you have a Dutch healthcare insurance the coverage of your invoice depends on your insurer and your type of policy. If your basic insurance consists of a restitution policy (restitutiepolis) than most of the times the insurer will cover the total costs. If you have a natura policy (naturapolis) than most of the times 75 per cent of the invoice is covered by the insurer. I recommend you to ask your insurer about their coverage policy conditions. Furthermore, for all treatment by specialists in the Netherland you have to pay the policy excess (eigen risico) first. (385 euros)
What and how can I pay?
You will receive an invoice for each session within a month for which you are kindly requested to complete the payment within 14 days. You can declare your invoice after you have completed the payment. If your insurer does not cover the invoice or less than you expected, you are still responsible to complete the payment to me.
I aspire to work free from any contracts with insurers because I strongly disagree with many of the rules the healthcare insurers apply. They impede my professional freedom and cause me a lot of useless administration.
The fact that our Gz-Psychologist has no contracts with an insurance has certain benefits. For more information about psychologists without any contracts, you can visit: www.contractvrijepsycholoog.nl.
Premature discontinuation of the treatment
In case of prematurely ending the treatment, an invoice will be sent corresponding the entire treatment traject in which you have been treated. Separate sessions cannot be charged within the GBGGZ. When you decide to end the treatment after the intake we will charge an invoice of an incomplete treatment.
Quality registration BIG-register en quality statute(Kwaliteitsstatuut) for insured healthcare
I am registered in the quality register of the government: the BIG-register. In order to have and maintain a BIG-registration as a Gz-psychologist, it is important for me to meet the quality requirements and to operate according a professional code. I also have an approved quality statute. These documents are required for insured healthcare and can be read in my practice.
Confidentiality and privacy
Everything that is being discussed in my practice is confidential and is regulated by law. No information will be shared without your permission. Cooperation with your general practitioner or medical officer can be of great importance. However, only with your permission the involved medical practitioner will be informed about the course of the treatment. If it is desirable that information is requested at others than your referring medical practitioner or e.g. previous care provider, than this is only possible with your permission.
I greatly value your privacy and offer you therefore, the possibility to sign an opt-out form. With this form you will maintain the control of sharing treatment information to others.
Reporting and dossier
It is obligatory that some personal information of you is in our administration. Your personal information is registered in agreement with the European legislation of General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). This means that your information will not be accessible for strangers. The purpose of the dossier is to ensure optimal health care.
Your dossier will be stored for a required period of time which is determined by Dutch legislation, afterwards your dossier will be destroyed.
It is allowed to destroy your dossier earlier. In order to do so, you can submit a written request. You are always allowed to view your dossier. In most of the cases it is possible to do this during the treatment. If you want to see more of your dossier a separate appointment has to be made. You can also receive a copy of your dossier (worknotes are not part of the dossier) for this we are required to charge a compensation.
Besides, I offer the possibility to fill in a mental healthcare privacy statement in order to prevent sharing anonymised treatment data.
Payment conditions
The invoice will be sent to you within a month after the session. If the payment period of 14 days have passed than reclamation is no longer possible.
Canceling an appointment and no-show
You are kindly requested to cancel the appointment 48 hours in advance via phone number: +31 (0) 6 38 06 10 58. If the appointment is canceled 48 hours in advance than no fee will be charged. If you do not cancel the appointment or not in time it will be charged to you.
Canceling appointments: 48 hours in advance otherwise it will be charged.
Languages: conversations are possible in Dutch, Englisch, Spanish and French.
Working hours: I work mostly during the day from 9 am to 6 pm.
General terms of payment
Article 1 These general terms of payment are applied to all treatment agreements between gz-psychologists, psychotherapist and clinical psychologists (to be referred as: practitioner) and the patient.
Article 2 No-show: Appointments must be canceled at least 48 hours in advance. If the appointment is not canceled or not canceled 48 hours in advance than practitioner is allowed to charge the reserved time to patient.
Article 3 The invoice for the treatment charged by practitioner to patient must be paid within 30 days after the invoicedate.
Article 4 In case patient does not complete the payment within 30 days of the invoicedate then patient will get a final chance to still compete the payment within 14 days without supplementary costs.
Article 6 If the payment of the invoice is still not completed within 14 days after the reminder than practitioner is authorized to take debt collection measurements or to outsource it to others.
Article 7 All extrajudicial collection costs related to the debt collection of unpaid invoices will be charged to patient. The extrajudicial debt collection costs are determined as at least 15 per cent of the total amount of the invoice rate with a minimum of 25 euros.
Article 8 In case of delayed payment practitioner is authorized – unless the treatment opposes this – to discontinue further treatment until the patient has met his/her payment obligations.