FINANCES - TEAMWORK

Thank you for all your support so far

We have received the most recent statement of account from A Batchelor and Associates which includes the accounts of the two advocates. At the end of November 2016 the statement reflected an outstanding balance of R384 695.43 (View Here).

We urge members to continue to make contributions in order for us to pay the outstanding accounts of at least the advocates, until we can recover our costs of the court case as per the settlement.

We would like to sincerely and wholeheartedly thank our TOP 20 FINANCIAL CONTRIBUTORS TO THE ReLPAG CASE (View the breakdown Here) for the past four years. Some members chose to stay anonymous.

Our protracted fight has cost R1.35 million of our member’s hard-earned money.

!THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR CONTRIBUTIONS OVER THE YEARS!

Due to all the work that needs to be done by ReLPAG’s lawyers, the account with them is accumulating on a daily basis. ReLPAG's received their most recent account dated 30 October 2016, reflecting our outstanding balance of R217 792.27. View the account Here or in the READ MORE . . . section. We therefore urge each and every one to please dig deep into their pockets and make your contribution to enable ReLPAG, as an organisation of which all of you are part of and for your own survival as well, to get the account with the lawyers up to date. We also need to make provision for the costs to be incurred during the settlement/court case in the following 2 week to come (as can be seen from the financial outlay of estimated expenses below).

The end is in sight, but we urgently need about R300 000 to see this court case through to the end:

We estimate our legal expenses prior to 2012 to be +/- R200 000;
According to our audited financial statements for the past 5 years (2012 - 2016) our legal expenses accumulated to the amount of R850 398 that was paid to the lawyers;
Further expenses already paid as from 1 March 2016 to date was the amount of R307 833 which leaves us with a total of R1.35 million that has already been paid over for legal costs;
We still have an outstanding account with the lawyers of +/- R200 000;
We further need an amount of R100 000 for the court case commencing on 14 November 2016; and
Therefore we URGENTLY need further contributions of R300 000 from all our members.

These are all estimated amounts as our legal team is currently busy with negotiations on a settlement proposal which will also have further financial implications.

We have received a considerable amount of money and we are truly very thankful for each and every member that has been loyal and that has contributed over the years to our worthy cause to keep on delivering a service to our patients and also to uphold our own livelihoods by the grace of God. Unfortunately we are still in dire need of funds to cover our outstanding account with our legal team and to cover all expenses which may occur in the following two weeks.

To enable you to get better insight into ReLPAG's financial history and current financial position, we have attached the financial statements from 2012 - 2016 as well as our legal teams' latest statements of account dated the 6th of May 2016, the 30th of June 2016, the 27th of July 2016 and the 29th of September 2016. A discrepancy in the statements of account dated the 30th of June 2016 occurred due to A. Batchelor & Associates changing their invoice/statement format.

ReLPAG has incurred a lot of financial expenses through the years. Legal services are costly and ReLPAG members had to often dig deep into their own pockets, even more so with representation in High Court cases. Attorneys A Batchelor & Associates have done an excellent job thus far to get us to this point to serve the public, the profession as well as the members of ReLPAG.

COUNCIL FOR MEDICAL SCHEMES (CMS) AND CERTAIN MEDICAL AIDS NOT PAYING ANYMORE

Non-clinical psychologists have experienced a steep decline in income as certain medical aids seized payment. When these psychologists turned to the medical aids which stopped payment, they defended their decisions based on the Council for Medical Schemes' position in this regard: "The CMS finally determined that the promulgated Scope of Practice of 2011 stands – until such time that the court case against the current promulgated Act has been finalised – all entities in the healthcare sector must comply with the Act and thus the scope of practice of certain provider disciplines." (Letter dated 21 July 2015)

JASA strongly objected to the CMS's position in this matter by stating: "Pending the Court’s judgment in this case, the Justice Alliance of SA is of the view that any refusal by Medical Aid societies to pay proper fees incurred by Educational and Industrial psychologists may amount to improper interference with the course of justice designed to prejudice the outcome of the litigation." (Letter dated 1 March 2016)

ReLPAG wanted to take action immediately by applying for an Urgent Court Order to prevent the medical aids to stop their payment to non-clinical psychologists. When ReLPAG's Ex-co consulted with their legal team, two important factors had to be taken into consideration, namely the cost thereof and the time available before the commencement of the High Court case. The facts on the table moved ReLPAG's Ex-co to decide against it, based on the estimated cost of between R30 000 and R100 000 depending on how it would be opposed and the fact that a court order for this kind of emergency may take up to three months to obtain and subsequently would not be cost effective for the month or so before the commencement of the High court case.