The new amendments to the Act on Client Charges in Healthcare and Social Welfare will enter into force on 1 July. The changes will slightly increase income-based fees for the majority of clients. This is due to the fact that the client fees of the City of Helsinki have been very reasonable and that the Act defines the sums of client fees in more detail.
The aim has been to keep the fee increases moderate. For example, the fees for continuous and regular home services will remain far below the maximum rates enabled by the legislation. These services include home care services as well as domestic services for families with children.
The legislative changes do not require the clients themselves to take any action. All clients will be provided with new payment decisions by the client fee unit in late summer and this autumn. The decisions will be posted to our clients.
The changes will not affect the services provided to our clients, which will remain the same.
The amendments to the Act on Client Charges in Healthcare and Social Welfare will cause changes in the fees for the following services:
- continuous and regularly provided home care
- domestic services for families with children
- long-term sheltered housing
- long-term supported housing
- long-term intensified sheltered housing
- long-term family care.
In addition to this, the outpatient clinic fee will be removed for persons under 18 years old.
More information about the fees is available at hel.fi/sote/en/services/fees/.
Fee for an unused appointment
Some of Helsinki’s health care services charge a fee for unused appointments that are not cancelled. The fee is €50.80 and will be charged to persons aged over 18.
The fee is charged for unused and uncancelled appointments for
- health stations
- maternity and child health clinics
- dental clinics
- physiotherapy and occupational therapy
- podiatry
- nutritional therapy
- internal medicine outpatient clinics
- psychiatric outpatient clinics
- geriatric outpatient clinics
- school and student health care.
The fee is charged for unused and uncancelled remote appointments.
The fee does not apply to unused appointments for outpatient detoxification treatment, needs assessment for opioid substitution, opioid substitution treatment, hepatitis C treatment and social services. The fee is based on the Act on Client Charges in Healthcare and Social Welfare (Section 3).
Please cancel your appointment if you cannot make it, thank you!
Picture: City of Helsinki's material bank / Sakari Röyskö
The article was updated 23..6.2021. The mentioning of cancelling an appointment latest at 16.00 the previous day was deleted.