How much are no-shows and late cancellations costing your practice?
A 2-minute check built on AU private-practice benchmarks. See what no-shows and late cancels cost your practice, how that compares to peers, and what's recoverable with tighter collection.
Tell us about your practice.
Volume and fees
Your policy
Collection
Cancellation pattern
On average, how often do they happen?
Your report
Based on your inputs: about 17 sessions a month are lost to no-shows or late cancels — 18% of booked · within the 10–30% AU range.
You're recovering $29,808 of $49,680 at risk. $17,388 is recoverable with tighter collection.
Recoverable revenue
$17,388/yr
≈ $378 a week you'd pick up by moving to card-on-file capture.
You today
$29,808
60% capture
Best practice
$47,196
~95% capture
What you're doing well
Charging the full session fee on missed appointments
That's the most common undercharge in AU private practice, and you've closed it.
What can I do?
Enable card-on-file auto-debit through your PMS
Halaxy, Splose, Power Diary, and Cliniko all do this. Manual invoicing leaves money behind. Card-on-file collects most of it automatically.
How the estimate is built
Sessions
- Booked / yr
- 1,150
- No-shows / yr
- 92
- Late cancels / yr
- 115
- Missed sessions / yr
- 207
Right now
- Revenue at risk
- $49,680
- Currently recovered
- $29,808
- Unrecovered
- $19,872
At best practice
- Recovered
- $47,196
- Unavoidable shortfall
- $2,484
- Recoverable
- $17,388
Benchmarks reflect common AU psychology private-practice figures and typical capability of major PMS platforms (Halaxy, Splose, Power Diary, Cliniko). Confirm current rates with your vendor and accountant.
Next step
Turn the revenue leak into a policy your practice can send.
Open the cancellation policy generator with your fee settings pre-filled, then export wording for your intake pack, email, or website.
FAQs
Can I charge a no-show or cancellation fee for a Better Access (Medicare) client?
You can set a cancellation or no-show fee in your own policy, but Medicare does not rebate these fees. The fee is entirely out of pocket to the client, the same as for WorkCover, DVA, third-party insurers, and private health funds.
What are the NDIS short-notice cancellation rules for psychology?
Under the NDIS Pricing Arrangements 2025-26, short notice for therapy supports is less than 2 clear business days. You can charge up to 100% of the agreed fee, but only where the Service Agreement names your cancellation terms and the practitioner cannot be redeployed to other billable work.
Is 24 or 48 hours the standard notice period in Australian psychology?
24 hours is the most common setting in AU practice; 48 hours is the stricter option and matches the NDIS 2-business-day window. In practice, consistency of enforcement matters more than which timeframe you pick.
What's a typical no-show rate for AU psychology private practice?
There is no AIHW-published psych-specific benchmark. Anecdotal AU private-practice no-show rates sit around 5–15%, with another 5–15% cancelling inside the policy window.
How does card-on-file auto-debit work with Halaxy, Splose, Power Diary, and Cliniko?
All four major AU PMS platforms support storing a client card on file under the client's informed consent, then debiting automatically when a no-show or late cancellation occurs. Collection rates typically move from 50–70% (manual invoicing) to 90–98% (card-on-file).
Do I need to include cancellation terms in my informed consent under the new PsyBA Code of Conduct?
Yes. From 1 December 2025, the PsyBA Code of Conduct replaces the APS Code of Ethics as a regulatory (not aspirational) code. Clients must be informed of fees, rebates, third-party involvement, and cancellation terms before treatment begins. Non-compliance may lead to regulatory consequences.
What goes in the NDIS Service Agreement cancellation clause?
At minimum: the short-notice threshold (2 clear business days for therapy), the fee that applies (up to 100% of the agreed rate), and the condition that a fee is only charged if the practitioner cannot be redeployed. Cancellation terms must be in writing in the Service Agreement or NDIS short-notice claims are not permitted.
Other free tools
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Cancellation policy generator
Draft a 1-page policy you can paste straight into your intake pack.
Informed consent generator
Draft an informed consent form updated for AU private practice and the 2025 code changes.
