Terms and Conditions
On this page you will find the conditions of use of the services offered by our Institute and information about the terms and timing of payment for services provided by our specialists.
Terms and Conditions
Patients are kindly asked to provide the information requested, which is necessary for the provision of appropriate medical services.
Istituto di Neuroscienze is not an emergency facility.
In the event of an emergency, please go to the emergency room or contact directly 112 (European unique number for emergency).
Our Institute is private and does not have agreements with insurance companies. The cost of visits, evaluations, therapies, medicine, and laboratory diagnostics is often borne exclusively by the person concerned. We do not guarantee reimbursement of visits and therapies from the insurance companies.
The access of the accompanying person is limited to one person per patient in compliance with the anti-COVID-19 safety measures.
Patients and accompanying person can stay within the Institute only during the times of the appointment.
Any damage caused to premises, objects and equipment must be repaid.
The access to all the services offered by the Institute can only take place by appointment and during opening hours; all services are offered by payment.
It is necessary that the final use of the evaluations (clinical, insurance, forensic for certifications) is made known at the time of booking.
What we offer is an opportunity for patients to try the neuroscience approach and innovative treatments by employing methods and tools validated by the results of the most recent scientific research. But in all medicine, there are no cures that work for everyone and there still exist unknown diseases. Therefore, there is no guarantee to obtain the diagnosis or the positive result of the treatments, but Dr. Pallanti tries to apply neuroscientific knowledge to give Personalized care even in very complicated cases.
The treatment of psychiatric disorders is a path that lasts a long time and most of the time for all your life. Each therapy, pharmacological or neuromodulation, can have a sequential adaptation. Do not expect to recover right after the initial visit.
The initial visit is intended as a fact-finding visit. After the initial visit, further visits are necessary to arrive at an initial personalized treatment. The number of visits required before reaching an initial personalized treatment depends on the individual condition and the duration of the disorder. All visits are subject to charges.
"Healing from psychiatric disorders is a process of change through which individuals improve their health and well-being, live selfdirected lives, and strive to reach their full potential" (American Psychiatric Association). So being cured does not mean that you should no longer take your medication or stop psychotherapy or neuromodulation therapies. The improvement of symptoms does not conclude a healing process, but extends those changes aimed at improving holistic well-being and quality of life by continuing care.
In the case of resistant disorders, the new treatment plan may worsen the symptoms at first. This may be due to the disruptive effects of the drug on the body, but this should lead to a long-term ameliorative reaction. This transition period can last up to 6 - 8 months. To observe the positive effects, one must wait for an appropriate time.
During treatment, if the clinical picture so requires, off-label treatment may be administered in accordance with the latest international guidelines and scientific evidence.
Instrumental examinations (EEG, QEEG, ECG) are carried out at the Institute for monitoring purposes and not for diagnostic purposes. The results are used exclusively for possible adjustment of therapy; therefore, there is no reporting of such examinations.
We only and exclusively release the results of interventions (diagnostic test and evaluations) if considered necessary. We do not release our own "work material" filled in by patients. The results of tests and other services are delivered immediately. If the patient requests the results later, we release, upon payment, what will be in our possession at that particular time.
Adherence to the suggested treatment is a necessary condition for obtaining an outcome and continuing to take care of a patient.
If the patient does not adhere to the suggested treatment or is not constant with the suggested care, the Institute and Dr. Stefano Pallanti reserve the right to withdraw from taking charge of the patient.
Inconsistency with consent is equivalent to non-consent to treatment. Treatment must be carried out consistently.
Treatment is valid for a maximum of 2 months; therefore, to ensure the continuity of taking charge of a patient, follow-up visits must be scheduled within this timeframe (unless otherwise indicated by the doctor). Follow-up visits may be done by Dr. Pallanti’s collaborators and all the visits are subject to payments.
The first course of therapy is not a vaccine that always protects against the disorder. Even after the symptoms disappear or decrease, the brain circuit disorder may remain. If therapy is stopped, the symptom may reappear, perhaps, in a different form from the first and more serious (relapse). At that point it will be more difficult, and it will take longer to get back to feeling better. To reduce the risk of relapse, it is the responsibility of patients to schedule periodic check-ups and follow-up of therapies. Generally, the more checks are done, the less risk of relapses there is.
The onset of treatment effects varies from person to person. In some cases, improvement is observed after a few weeks, but sometimes after many months. In general, the time it takes for improvements to appear is inversely proportional to the duration of the disorder and correlated to how it had been treated before coming to Dr. Pallanti; the later the treatment starts, the longer it takes to see results.
Keep in mind that, if previous therapies have been unsuitable or ineffective, it could take up to 3 - 6 months just to mitigate their negative effect. Until the negative effect of previous treatments is mitigated, no improvement will be seen.
If you turn to Dr. Pallanti for a substance, use disorder: No medicine or interventional therapy, for example Neuromodulation, makes you stop using substances. Our therapies help those who have already stopped using it not to relapse, when the patient has decided not to start again.
Treatments do not work if the patient does not have insight (does not recognize his disorder) or does not want to undergo treatment.
Treatment with neuromodulation therapies requires the collaboration of the patient without which it is not possible to carry out the treatment.
The Institute does not issue a “Piano Terapeutico” necessary to get a financial support from the Italian Health system, as it can only be issued by a public facility. The Istituto di Neuroscienze does not provide refundability.
The Istituto di Neuroscienze of Dr. Stefano Pallanti can release the prescriptions of all medicine on the market in Italy, but the cost of the medicine will be borne by the patient.
The new indication for the compilation of the prescription of off-label drugs put forward by Federfarma (Di Bella law) in some regions conflicts with the state law (Presidential Decree 309/1990, art.43 paragraph 3). In practice, the decision to sell or not to sell drugs against a prescription is left to each individual pharmacist. In the preparation of the recipes, we follow what is indicated by the law of the State and recognized by the Tuscany Region; It may be the case that in different regions, some pharmacists reject prescriptions drafted in this way, arguing that they are wrong. This is not an error in the compilation, but since the legislation has a regional character and moreover the interpretation of it depends on each pharmacist, it is impossible to find a method of drafting prescriptions that is valid throughout Italy and for all pharmacists. Please contact several pharmacies if a pharmacist does not accept a prescription.
The patient must be fully informed about the proposed therapy and must decide whether to continue or not. The doctor-patient relationship must be based on mutual trust. It is absolutely forbidden to undergo our therapies and services if you do not agree or are not convinced of the benefits or doubt the good, honest, and sincere intention of our work.
If you continue to use our services, you are informed and understand the benefits and risks of our services and you have fully and completely consented to our services.
It is essential that everything that is prescribed is clear both for the patient and for the general practitioner and pharmacist to whom the documentation will be shown (dosage of the medicine, name of the medicine, modification of any therapy, when and how to take the medicine). A clarification of the prescriptions will be provided against payment.
In compliance with the law on the protection of personal data (Dec. Leg. 196 of 30/06/2003) we cannot answer questions or requests from parents/ family members / caregivers of adult patients without the consent for each request.
The results of tests and other services are delivered immediately. If the patient requests the results later, they will be delivered, upon payment, what will be in our possession at that particular time. It is the patient's responsibility to keep the documentation that is given to them, to which we will refer to subsequent check-ups.
In the interests of privacy law, results are only handed over to the patient, or to another person in possession of a delegation and holding their own proof of identity. In no circumstances shall the staff be authorized to provide telephone information on the outcome of the examinations.
We accept health documents only in digital form or in photocopy. All documents including health documents given by hand to our staff or left inside the Institute will neither be stored nor returned. If the patient requests to photocopy or print documents from the memory stick / email, the cost is 50 cents per page.
Personal effects of any kind and / or health documents left inside the Institute will not be stored or returned.
The City of Firenze offers a courtesy service whereby you can download your licence plate to enter the ZTL for medical examinations. The service is independent from our Institute, so any complaints about any misunderstandings (fines and/or assessments) should be addressed directly to the relevant municipal office. The Centre for Neurology, Psychiatry and Clinical Psychology s.r.l. does not accept any responsibility.
Communications sent by e-mail and Facebook are periodically checked; this implies that the response may not be immediate.
Consultations by phone, email and Skype are offered by payment and requests will normally be processed within 5 days to 3 weeks. Urgent requests are accepted by payment.
Certificates and reports are subject to charges. Requests will normally be processed within 3 weeks but may take longer. If the requests are not processed within the indicated period of time, the patient will take care of soliciting them. There are neither refunds nor discounts on services interrupted due to force majeure, lack of cooperation of the patient, or in any case events independent of the responsibility of the Institute.
All services offered can be paid for from the time of booking, but in any case, before the service, by debit / credit card. Cash payments are not accepted. For initial visits payment must be made within 3 (three) days from the time the visit was scheduled and for control visits via skype at least 5 days before the appointment. The reservation will be confirmed only upon receipt of the payment. In the absence of confirmation, the appointment will be automatically canceled.
Note for billing: If you need the invoice dated on the same date as payment, payment must be made no later than 9:00 am on the day the invoice is to be issued, solely and exclusively by PayPal. If payment is made by bank transfer, it is not possible to issue the invoice on the same day. Instructions for how and when the invoice must be made must be specified at least three days before payment.
Once the invoice has been issued, it can no longer be changed. If there is a need for a special indication for insurance purposes, this must be communicated before the invoice is issued. The drafting of the cover letter for the specifications of the invoices is subject to payment.
The payments in question are to be understood as compensation for the competence and knowledge acquired in time, continuous updating with constant commitment to research, the time used by professionals (not only the duration of the visit but also for reading the reports, the study of history and familiarity, the study of the case and relative reading of the literatures carried out outside the time used for the visit) and for the 'use of medical premises and devices, and not as compensation for the result of services. It is therefore understood that the payment cannot be reimbursed regardless of the result obtained. The duration of the visit depends on the case, but usually 5 to 20 minutes.
Pursuant to D.L. 175/2014, we are required to transmit to the "Health Card System" (Sistema Tessera Sanitaria) the data of health expenses incurred by patients, for the purpose of automatic preparation of tax documentation.
Cancellations must be made at least 5 days before the appointment. After this deadline there will be no possibility of a refund.
Online Counselling
In the case of online services, documents can be sent by email, filled out by the patient and sent back scanned, with a copy of an identification document attached.
The purpose and nature of the professional intervention: psychiatric and psychological counselling and psycho diagnosticassessment to improve psychological wellbeing and manage psychological (cognitive, affective, relational, behavioural) discomforts and difficulties and/or psychopathological disorders, aimed at the individual and/or the family/group.
Cognitive tools (clinical interview, psychodiagnostic tests, observation) and intervention tools (interviews, clinical psychological intervention techniques) may be used for prevention, diagnosis, rehabilitation and support activities in the psychological field.
During the consultations, there will be no unseen third parties in the room with the patient and the psychologist
The interviews will not be recorded in audio or video.
The professional fee will be paid by bank transfer /by credit and debit card / paypal:
- Within 3 days from when the initial visit is fixed
- At least 5 days before the session for follo-up visits
Payment Information
At the Neuroscience Institute, we offer an efficient and transparent service regarding payment for our services.
From the time of the appointment reservation, it is possible to pay for all our services using a debit or credit card. In all cases, payment must be made before the services are provided. Please note that we do NOT accept cash payments. For first visits and Skype visits, the payment must be made within 3 days after the appointment is scheduled.
The payments in question are to be understood as compensation for the competence and knowledge acquired in time, continuous updating with constant commitment to research, the time used by professionals (not only the duration of the visit but also for reading the reports, the study of history and familiarity, the study of the case and relative reading of the literatures carried out outside the time used for the visit) and for the 'use of medical premises and devices, and not as compensation for the result of services. It is therefore understood that the payment cannot be reimbursed regardless of the result obtained.
Once the invoice is issued, it cannot be modified. If special wording is required for insurance purposes, this must be communicated at the very time the invoice is issued. Once the invoice has been issued, it cannot be amended, nor can documents be drafted that contain specifications related to the invoice.
Note for invoicing: If you need the invoice dated on the same date as the payment, payment must be made only and exclusively by PayPal no later than 10:00 am on the day in which the invoice must be issued. If payment is made by bank transfer, it is not possible to issue the invoice on the same day. Instruction for how and when the invoice is to be made must be specified at least three days before the payment itself.
We issue an invoice according to Italian legislation and do not issue a super-invoice. If we should issue an accompanying letter with specifications regarding the invoice, an administrative charge may apply per letter. In this case the patient should provide the text of the specifications.
Pursuant to Italian Legislative Decree 175/2014, we are required to transmit data on health care expenses incurred by patients to the "Health Insurance System" (Sistema Tessera Sanitaria, STS) for the purpose of automatic preparation of tax documentation.
Appointment Cancellation: The cancellation of an appointment must be made at least 48 hours before the scheduled date. Outside of this deadline, we will not be able to proceed with any reimbursement.
Certificates and reports: Any required certificates and reports are subject to a fee. The Neuroscience Institute is committed to fulfilling these requests normally in a five days to three weeks time frame.
Phone, email and Skype consultations: Additional phone, email and Skype consultations are chargeable services and such requests are typically processed within a five days to three weeks’ time frame.
