Allied Health Providers

Who counts as allied health

The category is broad: physiotherapists (movement and musculoskeletal rehabilitation), occupational therapists (function and independence in daily activities), dietitians (nutrition), speech pathologists (communication and swallowing), exercise physiologists (exercise-based management of chronic disease), and podiatrists (feet and lower limbs), among others. Psychologists are also allied health professionals but sit under a separate Medicare pathway (the Mental Health Treatment Plan) rather than the Chronic Condition Management Plan described here.

The Chronic Condition Management Plan

A GP prepares this plan for a patient with a chronic condition (present or expected to last 6 months or more) where a coordinated, multidisciplinary approach would help. It provides access to up to 5 Medicare-rebated individual allied health visits per calendar year (10 for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patients) — and this is a single shared pool across every allied health provider on the plan, not 5 visits per provider. Seeing a physiotherapist twice and a dietitian three times, for example, uses the full allowance.

Rebate vs. real cost

The Medicare rebate for an allied health visit under this scheme is modest, and most providers charge a gap on top of it — allied health is rarely fully bulk billed the way some GP visits are. Private health insurance extras cover is the other common way to fund allied health, and can be used alongside Medicare for different visits within your fund’s annual limits, so it is worth checking both before committing to a course of treatment.

Getting a plan started

Ask your GP specifically about a Chronic Condition Management Plan rather than assuming it will come up — it usually needs its own longer appointment to set up properly, and your GP will identify which allied health providers are relevant to your condition. The plan is reviewed periodically, and needs review within 18 months to keep accessing Medicare-rebated visits under it.

Questions worth asking

• Which allied health providers does my condition actually call for?
• How many of my 5 annual visits have I already used?
• What is the gap between the Medicare rebate and the provider’s fee?
• Does my private health insurance cover any of this separately?
• When does my plan need review to keep accessing rebates?